LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



Shelf 



a&Fj 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



/I 



i 



COLORADO 



AS AN 



AGRICULTURAL STATE. 



ITS 



FARMS, FIELDS, AND GARDEN LANDS. 



BY 

WILLIAM E. PABOE. 

ASSOCIATB EDITOB OF THE " COLOBADO PABMER," AUTHOB OP " PBUIT CXTLTTJBE 
IN COLOEADO," ETC. 



ILLUSTRATED. 




I DEC 27 iB8^ 

NEW YORK: ^^-t: 

ORANGE JUDD COMPANY, 

751 BROADWAY. 

1883. 




U, 






Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1882, by tb< 

ORANGE JUDD COMPANY, 

In the Oflace of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



TO 

HON. JOHN S. STANGER, 

OF DENVER, 

EDITOR OF THE " COLORADO FARMER," 

AND 

AN EARNEST ADVOCATE OF ALL, THINGS PERTALNING TO THE 

DEVELOPMENT OF THE AGRICULTURAL 

RESOURCES OF COLORADO, 

THIS VOLUME 

IS DEDICATED, WITH SINCERE ESTEEM, 

BY 

HIS CO-LABORER AND FRIEND, 

THE AUTHOR. 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 



In preparing this volume I have aimed to keep strictly 
"withm the border line of facts. Twelve years of careful 
observation, a personal acquaintance with nearly all the 
valleys described herein, an earnest desire to make public 
the agricultural resources of a State whose remarkable 
growth has no parallel in American history, — these have 
been impelling motives in the preparation of this truth- 
ful account of the valleys, plains, and parks of Colorado. 

William E. Paboe. 
Shady Side, Argyle Park, near Denver, Dec, 1883. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Chapter I. 
Introductory 9 

Chapter II. 
Historical and Geographical _ _ 19 

Chapter III. 
Colonization in Colorado _ 27 

Chapter IV. 
Irrigation — Measurement of W ater 37 

Chapter V. 
Ai-ea Susceptible of Irrigation 55 

Chapter YI. 
How Farming Pays 60 

Chapter VII. 
Cache-la-Poudre Valley _ . _ 75 

Chapter VIII. 
Big Thompson, Little Thompson, St. Vrain.. 87 

Chapter IX. 
Boulder and Clear Creek Valleys 93 

Chapter X. 
South Platte VaUey 99 

Chapter XI. 
Southern Colorado 110 



8 TABLE OF CONTEKTS. 

Chapter XII. 
San Luis Park 120 

Chapter XIII. 
Southwestern Colorado. 142 

Chapter XIV. 
Artesian WeUs — Reservoirs 150 

Chapter XV. 
Apiculture ._. _ .157 

Chapter XVI. 
Fruit Growing 164 

Chapter XVII. 
Questions and Answers .173 

Chapter XVIII. 
Colorado Agricultural CoUege 179 

Chapter XIX. 
Farming Journals. 183 

Chapter XX. 
Cattle and Sheep ..- ...188 

Chapter XXI. 
The Railway System of the State 202 

Chapter XXII. 
Garden Culture by Irrigation .207 



COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL STATE. 



CHAPTER I. 



INTRODUCTION. 

" Far in the West there lies a desert land, where the mountains 
Lift, through perpetual snows, their lofty and luminous summits. 
* * *.* * * * * * 

And to the South, from the Fontaine-qui-bouille and the Spanish Sierras, 
Fretted with sands and rocks, and swept by the wind of the desert, 
Numberless torrents, with ceaseless sound, descend to the ocean. 
Like the great chords of a harp, in loud and solemn vibrations. 
Spreading between the streams are wondrous, beautiful prairies, 
Billowy bays of grass are rolling in shadow and sunshine; 
Bright with the luxurious clusters of roses and purple amorphas. 
Over them wander the buffalo herds, and the elk, and the roebuck; 
Over them wander the wolves and herds of riderless horses; 
Fires that blast and blight, and winds that are weary with travel. 
Over them wander the scattered tribes of Ishmael's children, 
Staining the desert with blood, and above their terrible war-trail 
Circles and sails afloat, on pinions majestic, the Vulture, 
Like the implacable soul of a chieftain slaughtered in battle, 
By invisible stairs ascending and scaling the heavens. 
Here and there rise smokes from the caaps of these savage marauders; 
Here and there rise groves from the margins of swift-running rivers, 
And the grim, taciturn bear, the anchorite monk of the desert. 
Climbs down their dark ravines to dig for roots by the brookside; 
While over all is the sky, the clear and crystalline heaven, 
Like the protecting hand o2 God inverted above them." 

So wrote Henry "W. Longfellow in years gone by. Then, 
no doubt, the picture was as truthful as the poem is still 
beautiful. The genius of the poet depicted in wild and 
weird verse the desert as it was. But now — now, '^ the 
clear and crystalline heaven" remains, but all else is 
(9) 



10 COLORADO AS AN AGEICULTURAL STATE. 

changed, as by the hand of magic. Between Long's Peak, 
sentinelling the northern border of Colorado, and the 
Spanish Peaks, marking its southern boundary, the changes 
have been wondrous. *^ Billowy bays of grass " are still 
to be seen, but the buffalo and the elk have disappeared; 
wolves in countless multitudes, and riderless horses in 
mighty droves no longer wander over untenanted prairies. 
The Indian, ^^ staining the desert with blood," has been 
driven further and further to the westward, until now he 
no longer hides in the foot-hills, or even in the rock pal- 
aces of the cliff dwellers in deep and dark mountain 
gorges far away in the Toltec ranges of the Sierras. A 
nation whose motto is civilization inhabits the land. The 
valleys that once were desolate are now alive with hu- 
manity, and each recurring summer sees them robed in 
verdure, fresh from the hand of Ceres. In the hills, 
where the bear, the lion, and the wolf once roamed, there 
are cities, towns, and innumerable mining camps, w^here 
thousands dig, and delve, and toil for gold that glitters, 
and silver that shines. In the valleys, where streams 
with limpid currents once ran unfettered to the plains on 
their journey to the sea, there are towns, where industries 
flourish, and hamlets, wherein center all the elements of 
social existence. The water, won by skill and enterprise 
from its accustomed channel, runs over fields and farms, 
and becomes, in the divine alchemy of Nature, as precious 
as were the words that dropped from the mouth of the 
princess in the fairy tale, changing, m the dropping, to 
priceless pearls. Seed-time and harvest, once suggested 
as a possibility, have become a certainty in Colorado. The 
system of soil-culture, old, almost, as the history of civili- 
zation, common in the ancient lands of Asia and Africa, 
where art has been brought to the aid of nature, and the 
economies of earth-culture advanced to the highest per- 
fection, is here revived on soil older, perhaps, than the 
soil of Egypt. Mother Earth yields a bountiful return to 



INTRODUCTION". 11 

all who approach her with open hands. These she fills, 
indue season, out of her abundant store, and promises still 
greater abundance, when wider experience and sounder 
wisdom are brought to the aid of the soil-tiller, who is 
also the bread-winner and the world-feeder. 

The first question that will be asked by those who 
think of settling in Colorado is this: *^Is Colorado a 
farming country ? " Supplementary to this comes the 
query, ^^Does it pay to farm in Colorado ?" I propose 
to consider these questions, and answer them from an ex- 
perience of twelve years in the State, as well as to con- 
sider other points that present themselves to the minds of 
the dwellers by the rivers, lakes, and the sea, in the East- 
ern States, to whom agriculture has been a life-long pur- 
suit, and who, having become weary of its routine in the 
East think of, and seek for, a new home in the broad and 
boundless West, with their eyes more especially turned 
toward Colorado. 

As compared with Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska, or 
Kansas, Colorado is not a farming country. The breadth 
of land suitable for cultivation is limited, and the condi- 
tions of the climate peculiar. As, in the days when the 
Boys in Blue met the Boys in Gray upon the battle-field, 
there was a ^' dead line," passing which meant danger 
and death, so in the agricultural field of Colorado, there 
is a *^ water line," to go beyond which means disappoint- 
ment and destruction to the stalwart sons of the soil who 
seek to gain a livelihood from the bosom of Mother Earth. 
Inside the line, certain conditions bemg complied with, 
success is certain. 

As a late writer upon the subject has tersely put it, 
" Agriculture in Colorado is an entirely different pur- 
suit from what it is in the Eastern States, and the farmer 
who comes to the State and enters upon the cultivation 
of the soil in the style he has been accustomed to, will 
find that failure is more likely to result from his labors 



12 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

than success. He has so much to unlearn. It is better 
to abandon all notions and begin anew. Dependent upon 
irrigation for the growth of his crops, he must study the 
methods and meet the requirements of the climate. AVith 
a fixed purpose in his mind to overcome all the obstacles 
that will daily present themselves to him, it will not be 
long before the new order of things will be familiar to 
him. Once understanding the method, he may rely upon 
Nature for the rest. Bountiful harvests will crown his 
efforts, and excellent prices will cheer his heart and fill 
his pocket. Irrigation is dreaded, because it is nob un- 
derstood; yet the records of ancient history are full of it, 
and to day, in India, China, Italy, Spain, France, and 
other countries, long and expensively-maintained canals 
are the reliance of millions, to whom a failure of the 
water would literally mean starvation." 

Colorado, then, is not a farming country, in the sense 
that Kansas is. But farming can be done in Colorado, 
and money made at it. The danger of lin over-supply of 
production, so far as the cereals, fruits, and vegetables are 
concerned, is not among the possibilities of the future. 
Yearly over ten million dollars' worth of agricultural 
products are shipped into the State. The land that lies 
where water can overrun it and permeate it, is valuable 
land, and will at no far-distant day bring prices that 
would now seem wild and extravagant to name. 

But those who come must not expect more from Colo- 
rado than she can give. No doubt, hundreds of those 
who enter its borders, return to the States disappointed 
in their expectations, and lay heavy blame upon those 
who have written about its agricultural resources, and in- 
vited them to come. Those who reach Colorado with 
certain ideas of society, soil, climate, and country, based 
upon what they have left behind them, are likely to be 
disappointed, as they would be were they to go to Alaska. 
Those who come expecting to find fenced farms and 



IKTKODUCTIOK. 13 

plowed lands with fruit-bearing trees thereon, and irrigat- 
ing canals intersecting every other rod of snch lands, 
upon which they have only to file a ''preemption," or 
"homestead" claim, and then settle down and enjoy all 
the comforts of life, consequent upon an old social civili- 
zation, will have only themselves to blame for their dis- 
appointment. Such "soft spots" may be found, it is 
true; but they must be bought and paid for at a price a 
little higher, at least, than the Government asks for wild 
lands. Just as those who now purchase in the Wyoming 
Valley in Pennsylvania, or the Genesee Valley in New 
York, buy and pay for land that was once an unbroken 
forest, but from which hardy pioneers felled the trees, 
dragged the stumps, and braved peril from wild beasts, 
and from still wilder savages. It took one man many 
years to clear a farm in Indiana, and in Colorado the con- 
ditions of success yary only in peculiarity. One man 
alone cannot build an irrigating canal many miles in 
length, and so redeem broad prairie land from the curse 
of sterility. Seldom can ten men do it, save where the 
land lies close to the water's edge. It takes combined 
energy, skill, and capital to construct them. Once built, 
however, and the land cultivated, the harvest is sure for 
the farmer who sows his seed, and, without watching the 
clouds, provides his land with the moisture it needs dur- 
ing the season of crop-growing. 

Agriculture in Colorado and the yalley lands being in- 
separable, they must betaken together in considering the 
amount of land available for cultivation, and locations 
where land can yet be obtained. Later, in this volume, 
I will describe these valleys in detail. In the present chap- 
ter the principal ones will be briefly mentioned, in order 
that the reader may haye a general idea of the State as a 
whole, before descending to particular localities. 

Beginning, therefore, in the northern part of the State, 
the first yalley below the State line is the Cache-la-Pou- 



14 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

dre, one of the earliest settled and best farming valleys 
in the State. Here was located the Union Colony at 
Greeley, and the Agricultural Colony at Fort Collins. 
A number of large canals traverse a stretch of land about 
thirty-five miles long, having an average width of five 
miles. These are mainly on the north side of the stream. 
As this valley has had the benefit of new settlers for 
many years, homestead locations are very scarce. Parties 
having means, however, will find it easy to secure pleas- 
ant farms, either in the neighborhood of Greeley, Eaton, 
Wheatlands, or Fort Collins. About one- third of the 
wheat at present raised in the State comes from this 
valley. 

Lying seventeen miles south is the Big Thompson Val- 
ley, noted for its beauty and the fertility of its soil; 
though, indeed, it may be said that this last feature is 
peculiar to all the valleys of Colorado. An occasional 
homestead may be secured here, but as a rule, all the 
available land has long been filed upon, occupied, and 
patented. The Little Thompson, a tributary stream, 
has a small valley with choice arable land on either side 
fully occupied by settlers. 

The St. Vrain Valley is thickly settled. It is one of 
the oldest districts in the State, dating back to the time 
when the country was only inhabited by trappers. If a 
new comer desires a home among a community as pros- 
perous as any in the State, he can find it here. It has 
been said that there are more fenced, and consequently 
properly improved farms here, than elsewhere. Proba- 
bly fifty thousand acres are under fence; improvements 
are of a good, permanent character. On both sides of 
the stream, look where you will, you find evidence of an 
intention to stay and make homes as well as farms. It 
will be readily understood, from this fact, that Govern- 
ment lands are not to be looked for here. But improved 
farms can be had at prices running from fifteen dollars to 



INTRODUCTION". 15 

fifty dollars per acre. Owing to the fact that the supply 
of water from this stream is used to its utmost capacity, 
not many new farms, if indeed any, can be opened up, 
and these only under canals now in operation. 

Boulder Valley is a famous wheat-growing section. 
The stream affords a fair supply of water, which at pres- 
ent is not all used for irrigating purposes. All the ara- 
ble land, however, is held by private parties. About 
twenty thousand acres are under fence. Considerable 
hay is raised. 

In Ralston, Bear, and Clear Creek Valleys, in the near 
vicinity of the City of Denver, there is but little vacant 
land. The supply of water, unless it may be from the 
last named stream, is used to its utmost limit, and the 
opportunities, therefore, are few, where vacant land in- 
vites the new comer to establish a home upon it. 

The South Platte Valley, for fifty miles from where it 
debouches from the foot-hills, is occupied by farmers on 
the lands lying contiguous to the stream. Until lately 
the canals from it were small and suited, save in the 
neighborhood of the towns of Littleton, Brighton, Platte- 
ville and Evans, to the needs of individual farmers along 
its banks. But there is nov/ in course of construction, a 
canal whose proposed dimensions make it the largest en- 
terprise of the kind in the State, which will bring many 
thousand acres of land under cultivation within ten miles 
of the largest city — Denver — in the State; and furnish 
homes for thousands of farmers. An area, of probably 
one hundred thousand acres can be put into cultivation, 
and the next few years will demonstrate the value of 
every foot of land under this canal, of which a fuller ac- 
count will be given in the chapter devoted to the South 
Platte Valley. 

On the Divide, as it is called, irrigation is not always 
required to raise crops. Here is a section of country 
eminently adapted to dairying. The altitude is from 



16 COLOIIADO AS AX AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

six thousand to seven thousand five hundred feet above 
the level of the sea. Timber abounds. Springs give 
clear, pure, cold water in abundance, while rain enough 
falls, in ordinary seasons, to insure crops of grain and 
potatoes. This belt of country in Central Colorado is 
not so well known as some other sections, save for its 
timber. It has been somewhat inaccessible, but a rail- 
road crosses it on its western limit, and a second is now 
traversing it on its eastern line. It has no large streams. 
Its climate may be called peculiar. It is famous for the 
sharpest lightning known in the State. But it has advan- 
tages that may well attract the attention of new comers. 

On the Fontaine-qui-Bouille but little unoccupied 
land can be found. The supply of water available for 
irrigation is not large ; j^robably ten thousand acres can 
be cultivated. There are a good many farms between 
Colorado Springs and Pueblo that lie idle, but should be 
in the hands of enterprising men. There is no doubt 
that lands can be purchased at reasonable figures and on 
easy terms, and it will not be time lost for intending 
settlers, as they journey southward, to look over these 
neglected places. 

In the Arkansas Valley lie vast stretches of arable 
land, reaching from the foot-hills to the easternmost 
limit of the State. Not one twentieth part has as yet 
been put under cultivation. The Atchison, Topeka 
and Santa Fe railroad runs through nearly the en- 
tire belt, thus making Eastern and Western markets 
convenient of access. The soil is somewhat more 
sandy than the soil in the northern part of the 
State, and does not, therefore, hold the water as well, 
requiring more for the season's use. There are a num- 
ber of streams tributary to the Arkansas, whose valleys 
are more or less suitable for irrigation. In fact, taking 
this stream and the tributaries, and calculating the irri- 
gable area, upon the assumption that twelve cubic feet 



INTEODUCTIOK. 17 

of water per second will irrigate one square mile, or six 
hundred and forty acres, there is in this valley and its 
feeders at least half a million acres of land adapted to 
cultivation, the greatest portion of which lies open to set- 
tlement or purchase. In the early days of Colorado's his- 
tory, the stream of emigration flowed up the valley of 
the South Platte, and for many years Northern Colorado 
received the benefit of settlement and Southern Colorado 
was overlooked. A milder climate, a sandier soil, a lon- 
ger growing season, these are points in favor of this sec- 
tion of Colorado that may well invite the scrutiny of 
those who expect to settle in the State. 

Lying "west of these tributaries of the Arkansas, and 
beyond the Sangre de Christo range of mountains, is San 
Luis Park, watered by the Eio Grande del Norte and its 
feeders, the Alamosa, Conejos, Trinchara, La Jara, 
Culebra, Costilla, and other streams. Here there is an 
immense body of land, nearly all susceptible of cultiva- 
tion, and very little of it occupied. There are entire 
townships of vacant agricultural lands open to homestead 
or preemption, to lease or purchase from State, College 
and School authorities. Here is a section of country — of 
which I shall write more fully in a later chapter — fifty 
miles wide and two hundred long, in close proximity to 
mining regions where towns are rapidly springing up 
and whose inhabitants all require to be fed. A market 
that can never be overstocked here awaits the fortunate 
farmers who seek from the soil the abundant harvest that 
awaits those who sow the seed and who do not seek in vain. 
'' Heretofore," says a late writer, "the agricultural re- 
sources of San Luis Park have been overlooked or neglected, 
but its producing capacities are practically inexhaustible. 
The arable lands are capable of supporting an immense 
population." I feel confident that the day is not far distant 
when the San Luis Park will be as closely settled as is 
the St. Vrain Valley now, with farmers as forehanded, 



18 COLORADO AS AIT AGTIICULTURAL STATE. 

with farms as well improved, with homes as firmly estab- 
lished. The Denver and Eio Grande railway system has 
touched the heart of the Park ; moving southward, it 
traverses Conejos Valley ; and, westward, the heart of 
the great San Juan country. Hence transportation to 
this desirable section of Colorado is easy and rapid. 

Beyond, the main range of mountains, and upon the 
western slope, there are points where areas of arable land, 
of varying size, are to be found. Especially in the section 
until lately known as the Indian Reservation, in South- 
western Colorado, there are magnificent belts of land 
suitable for cultivation, lately opened for settlement. 
Especially is this true of the Uncompahgre, Gunnison 
and Grand Valleys. On Bear, White, and Yampah rivers 
are localities yet to be occupied by thrifty farmers. 

To the farmer who can reach Colorado with some 
capital, and is therefore in a position to select his home, 
there are abundant opportunities in Northern Colorado 
for so doing. The days of pioneering are over in the val- 
leys of the Cache-la- Poudre, the St. Vrain and the Boul- 
der. Improved farms, cultivated homes abound. The 
man who comes with money can easily find the man who 
is willing to sell his farm for money. To the farmer who 
comes with but little money, there are occasional oppor- 
tunities in Northern Colorado, and abundant ones in the 
southern and western part of the State, to secure farms 
partly improved. Time, patience, and earnest labor are 
sure to bring about a state of affairs satisfactory to those 
engaged in a profession as honorable as it is ancient. 

The valley lands of Colorado are as valuable and as ex- 
haustless in treasure as are its hills. In each sleeps the 
princess awaiting the coming of the one whose touch 
shall waken her to life and activity. In the hills, the 
pick ; in the valleys, the plow. Whether in glittering 
gold or in shimmering, shining grain, what matters it, 
so that happiness waits upon her w^aking ? 



CHAPTER II. 



HISTORICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL. 

As early as 1530, Spanish adventurers in Mexico were 
interested in the accounts occasionally received from the 
north, of a land full of gold and precious stones. Their 
cupidity being naturally excited, led to various partial 
but unsatisfactory explorations, with a view to the estab- 
lishment of the Catholic religion, and securing the untold 
wealth su^^posed to be hidden in what was termed the 
Buffalo country, or what is now known as Arizona, New 
Mexico, and Colorado. 

In the year 1540, Vasques Coronada, a Spanish ad- 
venturer, fitted out, under the direction of the Viceroy 
of the Spanish Crown at Sinaloa, in New Spain, an 
expedition whose passage along the base of the Eocky 
Mountains is the first upon record. He passed up the 
canons leading to the source of the Gila River, crossed 
the mountains, and reaching the Rio Grande del Norte, 
followed up this stream until he entered San Luis Park. 
Finding his way out of this magnificent valley through 
the pass called Sangre de Christo, he turned his steps 
northward and skirted the base of the mountains until 
he reached Long's Peak, in the northern part of the 
State. 

Coronada sought for gold, but found it not. The 
country of the Seven Cities of Cibola, of which so much 
had been heard, was a disappointment to him wherever 
he went, inasmuch as he found no evidence of wealth, 
and only a few scattered settlements of Indians, where he 
supjDosed were populous cities. But the ruins he met 
with were remarkable, and to this day, the archaeologists 
(19) 



20 COLORADO AS AI^ AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

are puzzled over the story they conceal. But Coronada 
made no settlement, though he traversed the base of the 
mountains, pierced the deep canons, and heard the wind 
whistle among the trees on the mountain tops. He 
sought for gold and found it not; yet probably passed 
over the richest deposits of gold and silver in the world. 
The wand of witch-hazel had lost its power, or, per- 
chance, the hour had not yet struck when the veins of 
the heart of the Continent were to be opened, yielding 
such wonderful treasures to the world. Long years 
passed before anything more was known of the hidden 
land. 

In the seventeenth century, various bold explorers 
visited the vast region of country lying north of the Eio 
Grand del Norte. Col. Wood in 1654, Capt. Bolt in 
1670, and M. de la Salle in 1682. During this period 
the country was supposed to be under French rule, but 
in 1769 it was ceded to Spain, under whose control it re- 
mained thirty years, when it again passed into the hands 
of the French. Three years later, the United States, 
by purchase and by treaty, came into possession, and 
from the opening of the nineteenth century, the story of 
this vast region is part and parcel of American history. 

Major Zebulon N. Pike's is the first expedition in date, 
having been fitted out under the direction of the War 
Department as early as 1805. His main object of search 
was the source of the Arkansas. On the 15th of No- 
vember, of that year, he came in sight of what had before 
been called Mexican Mountain, now known as Pike's 
Peak; on the 25th he camped at its base. One or two 
efforts w€re made to ascend it, but failure ensued on ac- 
count of the immense fields of snow upon its rugged sides. 
Returning to the plains, he crossed the Divide between 
the Arkansas and the South Platte, and traversed the 
country until he came to what was supposed to be the 
Red River; but it is the opinion of Fremont and others 



HISTOEICAL A:N"D GEOGRAPHICAL. 21 

that the stream he reached was the Grand, in the west- 
ern part of Colorado. 

In 1819, Coh Long's expedition set out from Pitts- 
burgh, and, striking the mountains near Fort St. Vrain, 
on the stream of that name, he caught his first view of 
the peak named in his honor. He traversed the base of 
the mountains through the entire length of the territory, 
and it was during this expedition that Dr. James ascend- 
ed the Mexican Mountain, or Grand Peak, first seen 
by Major Pike. Col. Long named it after the bold ex- 
plorer who first scaled its rock-ribbed sides, but later it 
was found that Pike's name had been fastened to it by 
the settlers in a way that could not be shaken off. 

Bonneville followed Long in 1832, and ten years later 
Col. Fremont's expedition was sent out. Two years 
later it returned, having passed up the South Platte, 
crossed the Big Thompson, Cache-la- Poudre and Crow 
creeks, thence along the base of the foot-hills to Fort 
Laramie (then a part of the American Fur Company), 
and so across the range to the Pacific Coast. After ex- 
ploring north and south, he recrossed the range and 
made his way through what is now known as South Park, 
to the Arkansas River. 

The printed results of these three expeditions gave to 
the American people but a faint conception of the mag- 
nificent heritage they had fallen heir to. Up to this 
time there were but few white settlers in the country. 
The Pawnee and the Cheyenne, the Ute and the Arapahoe 
roamed over the country and made war upon each other 
for the possession of the valuable hunting grounds, and 
the wings of the Eagle of Civilization were dipped, at their 
western tips, in the sluggish waters of the Missouri River. 
All beyond, east of the Rocky range, was given over to a 
few adventurous trappers in the employ of fur companies 
and to the inhospitable savage. 

In 1857, a party of Cherokee Indians on their way to 



22 COLORADO AS AN" AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

California, discovered gold in the sands of Ealston creek, 
an affluent of the South Platte River, and from this date 
the history of Colorado may fairly commence. The news 
spread like wild-fire and thousands rushed to the new El 
Dorado. By the year 1859, Pike's Peak was the objec- 
tive point of the multitude of gold seekers, and the 
territory soon became a bee-hive. Colorado City, 
Denver, Black Hawk, Golden, and Georgetown were 
founded, and a Convention was called to form a State 
Constitution and to apply for admission into the Union. 
Submitted to the people, the proposition was rejected by 
a vote of two thousand one hundred to six hundred and 
fifty. In 1861, Congress organized the Territory of 
Colorado with its present boundaries. The population 
at this time was about thirty thousand — one-sixth of 
whom were females. In 1863, a second Convention met 
in Denver, formed a Constitution and submitted it to the 
people. This was also rejected, but the following year 
another attempt was made, which succeeded. A State 
organization was effected, a Governor, Legislature, Judic- 
ial Officers, Senators, and a Eepresentative elected. The 
bill for admission as a State passed Congress with but 
little opposition, but President Johnson vetoed it. For 
ten years thereafter but little agitation of the State ques- 
tion occurred ; but in 1875, an enabling act was again 
brought before Congress, and the people were called upon 
to choose members of a convention which was to draft a 
Constitution to be submitted to the people for adoption. 
This Convention met in December, 1875, closed its labors 
in March, 1876, having perfected a Constitution which 
was submitted to and adopted by the people, and the 
Centennial Year witnessed the entrance into the family 
of the Union, of Colorado, the Centennial State. 

The geographical position of Colorado can be briefly 
stated. It comprises all that j)ortion of the National 
domain within the thirty-seventh and forty-first parallels 



HISTORICAL Al^D GEOGRAPHICAL. 23 

of north latitude, and the one hundred and second and one 
hundred and ninth meridian of west longitude. It is 
nearly square, and contains one hundred and six thousand 
four hundred and seyenty-five square miles, or nearly sixty- 
eight millions of acres. Two- thirds of this yast region 
is one continuous system of mountain ranges, within 
whose gigantic arms lie enfolded valleys of unrivalled 
beauty and parks of magnificent extent. Here is to be 
found the most elevated region on the North American 
Continent. Mount Lincoln — like Saul of old among his 
brethren — towers three thousand feet above a score of 
fellow peaks lying north and south of its eternal snow- 
capped summit, and yet whose lowest altitude is twelve 
thousand feet above the level of the sea. From its sum- 
mit can be seen twenty-five peaks over fourteen thousand 
feet high, and two hundred over twelve thousand, with 
lesser peaks, ranging from eight to ten thousand, almost 
innumerable. Professor Hayden fixed the position of 
every leading peak within thirty thousand square miles, 
in his survey, completed in 1873, and he characterized 
the ground as *^one of the most interesting areas on the 
Continent, both in a geological and geographical point of 
view, forming, as it does, the center of the greatest ele- 
vation in the Rocky Mountain chain." In Central Colo- 
rado this chain proper is about one hundred and twenty 
miles broad, made up of three lofty parallel ranges, 
flanked on the western slope by great plateaus and groups 
of peaks. The front, or Colorado range, rises abruptly 
from the plains and can be seen in one grand pano- 
rama one hundred and forty miles long. Between these 
ranges lie the parks of Colorado, one of the most mag- 
nificent as well as most interesting features within the 
borders of the State. These parks are numerous, but 
there are four worthy of distinct mention. IS^rth Park, 
thirty miles in diameter, near the northern boundary, 
out of which flows the North Platte river, whose waters. 



~2t COLORADO AS AK AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

following tortuous windings, reacli the Missouri and 
Mississippi rivers, and finally rest in the placid bosom 
of the Gulf of Mexico. Middle Park, also a circular 
basin, is fifty miles in diameter. Out of it flows that 
Grand river which Pike reached and mistook for the 
Red River of the North, of which he was in search. 
South Park, thirty miles wide and sixty miles long, is 
one vast meadow through which the South Platte River 
courses. San Luis Park, most southerly of all, is drained 
by the Rio Grande del Norte. With elevations varying 
from six to eight thousand feet, well watered and abun- 
dantly timbered, an unequalled climate, with mineral 
springs and the precious metals in abundance, these parks 
are to be the habitation of thousands, and the seat of num- 
berless industries. They are now (except the last-named) 
the paradise of the hunter, and for a few years to come 
will be the yearly resort of the Nimrods of the woods. 

From the foot-hills to the timber line, the vast moun- 
tain chains traversing the State are one vast forest of 
pine and cedar, from which the future lumber and fuel 
of the inhabitants can be drawn for a century to come. 
In the heart of the mountains lie countless mines of gold, 
silver, iron, and coal, yet untouched. Mining is but in 
its infancy, though the State has leaped to the front rank 
of mineral-producing States. The seventy-five or hun- 
dred millions that have thus far dropped through the 
fingers of the miners, are but as a trifle to what shall 
come hereafter, when capital shall stiffen into strength 
and toughness, the hands that as yet grope feebly upon 
the surface of the shining soil. Beneath the tread of the 
sturdy prospector, lie minerals and precious stones with- 
out number, moss agates, onyx, amethyst, jasper, chal- 
cedony and garnet; these and others hide themselves in 
the parks, beside the creeks, and in the foot-hills. 

There was a time when the stones that lay scattered 
over the undulating plains of Mesopotamia were eloquent 



HISTORICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL. 25 

with the silence and the secrets of untold centuries. But 
one day, says a writer, there came an interpreter and the 
silence of the sands and the secret of the stones was a 
secret no longer. Nineveh, in all the grandeur of its 
desolation, stood revealed to the world to which it had 
hecome almost a tradition. The stones told their story 
as other stones have told theirs, from the time Jacob 
used one for a pillow, down to these later days when 
the geologist, with hammer in hand, goes about the 
earth, opening up at his touch new pages in the Book of 
Nature, recalling old truths from forgotten rolls of sci- 
ence, advancing human knowledge to higher planes, 
teaching new truths that brush away at once the cob- 
webs that ignorance and superstition have gathered about 
the ears, and eyes, and intellect of human kind. 

So is it ^ith the rocks and stones of Colorado. Already 
they begin to tell wonderful stories of the uncounted 
eons that stretch out into the limitless past of which we, 
as yet, only catch faint glimpses. Here is a field for the 
geologist, ever fresh and fair. The age is ripe for the 
revelation the geologic translator can give. These river 
beds, these parks where once swept inland seas, these 
foot-hills, these plains, each yield up distinctive speci- 
mens, marking the earth's wonderful progress from the 
Azoic age down to our own day. 

The foot-hills, as they are called, to distinguish them 
from the higher ranges that tower west of them, are in 
reality mountain chains, only of lesser magnitude. They 
commence when the plains have reached an altitude of 
between four and five thousand feet above the level of the 
sea, and running parallel with the main ranges back of 
them, lift their heads from three to five thousand feet 
high. Here flourish the pine, cedar, aspen, and birch. 
In the valleys, and small parks they inclose, vegetation is 
very thrifty. The hay-producing qualities of the soil in 
these parks is simply wonderful. In some of them the 
2 



yS) COLORADO AS Al^ AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

tourist sinks knee deep in grass that has flourished and 
faded, grown and perished, season after season, until the 
surface, for miles, is one vast treacherous morass of de- 
cayed vegetation, into which it is almost impossible to 
venture with safety. 

These, and there are thousands of such places scattered 
through the mountain region of Colorado, are to be the 
herdsmen's and dairymen's Eden of the future. Here, 
sheltered from the storms and the wmds of the hills, 
that surround them, they can grow, without irrigation, 
abundant harvests of barley and potatoes. Here their 
sheep and cattle can have prolific pasturage, and the 
towns springing up along the lines of new railroads, and 
the mining interests that are so rapidly developing, will 
demand from them, and from the farmers on the slopes 
lying eastward toward the prairies, all that they can pro- 
duce, paying a dividend that would startle the farmer, 
sheepmen and dairymen of the East, into the belief that 
Colorado and El Dorado were one. 



CHAPTER III. 



COLONIZATION IN COLORADO. 

When Cecrops landed on the shores of Greece to found 
his colony, did his followers receive favorable impres- 
sions ? When the Mayflower band stood upon the 
sterile Plymouth shores, did the surroundings cheer 
and encourage the pilgrims ? Ambitious hopes in the 
cue case, and religious zeal in the other, aided each to 
bear up under the unfavorable and unpropitious circum- 
stances, and to look beyond the hour, with its temporary 
difficulties, dangers and disappointments, to the dawning 
of a happier day. Through faith Cecrops beheld the 
Athens of the future rising out of the sands that shone 
upon the sea shore. Through like faith the little band 
of Pilgrims beheld a happy, prosperous, exalted nation 
rising in strength and grandeur within one hundred 
years from the day their feet w^ere wet with the salt spray 
of the Atlantic Ocean. Could they have foreseen what 
a still later one hundred years would accomplish, what 
a glimpse of worldly glory and renown would have shone 
like an aureole around their perplexed pathway. 

And as it was in the ancient and modern time, so it is 
now. First impressions are seldom favorable to a pion- 
eer. The surroundings of the new place are so differ- 
ent, that it is impossible, almost, to resist comparing tlie 
present with the past ; and herein lies the chief cause of 
failure with those who have returned from the West to 
the East with such discouraging stories of the trials that 
beset them. It is true, there are trials. It is true, there 
are difficulties. It is true, there are times when even 
the stout heart grows weak and the strong will becomes 
yielding, and the floodgates of memory swing open, let' 
(37) 



28 COLORADO AS AX AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

ting through a surging, sweeping tide of dear delights of 
days gone by, to unnerve the man and the woman other- 
wise brave and strong to struggle through the battle of 
life. Yet the law of compensation rules here as else- 
where ; in this as in other things. Though some shining 
links in the chain have disappeared, others full as bright 
and fair take their place, and the chain is stronger for the 
change. *^ Something beautiful has vanished," the pion- 
eer thinks, as, sitting under bare, brown rafters and 
upon uncarpeted floors, he recalls the surroundings of the 
home he left behind him. 

The pioneer who, not many scores of years ago, sought 
on the shores of the inland lakes, or along the majestic 
Allegbanies, or amid the dark and bloody ground of 
Kentucky for a new home, had in him all the elements 
that made Cecrops a hero, or the name of Columbus one 
of '' the few immortal names that were not born to die." 
For it needed a brave heart and a stout arm to drive 
stakes beyond the frontier line — stakes that became an 
instant challenge to the Indian and the wild beast for 
the supremacy of the forest, and a sign that the waves of 
civilization had advanced so many paces further into the 
wilderness. Think you first impressions were favorable? 
Nature in her solitude puts on her gloomiest mood. The 
trees, even, hide the sunshine that might gladden the 
hearts of young and old, could it but fall lightly upon 
their faces. The day brings toil and the night brings 
pain. The season, perhaps, is short, and the work of 
preparation for the inclemency of the coming winter 
months is arduous. The burden is heavy and grievous 
to be borne. Yet, what a grand lesson of self-reliance 
this pioneering offers to the world. Given the time, an 
acorn becomes an oak. So nations grow. Through such 
influences as these our country has enlarged its borders 
until the wings of its eagle dip, one in the turbulent, and 
one in the placid waves of the two mighty oceans. 



COLOKIZATIOK li^ COLOEADO. 29 

But these latter days have wrought a change ; the 
pioneer no longer goes forth to fight his battle alone. He 
becomes a colonist and joins with a score or an hundred 
others. They go forth with strong arms and brave hearts 
upon their mission to reclaim the waste lands, and to 
render fruitful the barren bosom of the earth. Yet is 
the work no less hard, the outlook at first no less dis- 
couraging. The impressions made upon the mind at first 
are unfavorable, from the very circumstances of the 




AN EARLY SETTLER'S RANCHE — 1870. 

case, and because the human mind cannot resist the im- 
pulse which leads it to compare the present with the 
past — an impulse all the more strong because here the 
shadows of the present show in stronger light the sun- 
shine of the past, and bring into broader rehef and more 
vivid outline — 

*' The tender grace of a day that is dead," 

a grace that will never return. Never ? Is this true? 
The rose that has bloomed can never again unfold its 
blushing petals to the sunshine and the breeze ; but the 



30 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

bush from whence it bloomed, through whose sap it 
drew the elements of beauty — is that dead? Nay, nay! 
Next year, stronger, better fitted for its work, it repro- 
duces the roses of the day that was dead, and fairer 
blooms and tenderer graces come to take the place of the 
old, the faded and the forgotten. 

As I think it oyer, the memory of a dear old home far 
away on the eastern coast comes into my mind. I see 
the roses that bloomed by the porch, the morning glo- 
ries and the hollyhocks that reyelled in the bright sun- 
shine, the stately trees that cast their refreshing shade 
over the lawn on which yiolets hid their sweet blue faces. 
I hear childish prattle, sweet womanly voices, honest 
manly tones. The faces and the forms of those I loved 
pass by as in a vision. 

Years ago, De Tocqueville penned this sentence: *^The 
gradual but continuous progress of the races towards the 
Rocky Mountains has all the solemnity of a Providential 
event. It is like a deluge of men rising unabatedly and 
moving onward by the hand of God." AVithin the last 
few years, this progress has been more than gradual, now 
that the method of settling the vacant lands in the West 
through systematic colonization may be set down with 
definite precision as the most rapid, while at the same 
time the most healthy way. The little colony company, 
having learned from the bees the lesson of swarming, 
gather about their chosen leader, and at once, in what 
was the heart of the wilderness, appear the si.crns of a 
populous community. It is like the kiss of the Prince 
upon the lips of the Princess, asleep for a hundred years 
in the palace hidden in the woods. The hammer rings, 
and the anvil clinks; the monotonous music of the saw 
sounds on the air; the virgin sod, upturned to the sun- 
light, is kissed by the sun as it was never kissed before, 
and the full fruition of the farmer's hopes follows in due 
season. Ere long the sound of the church bell invites 



COLOi^IZATIOiq^ IN COLORADO. 31 

the people to prayer; the clatter of the mill wheel is 
heard; the school house rears its stately proportions in 
the air; the telegraph concentrates the arteries that com- 
municate with the ends of the earth; the railway brings 
the products of the four quarters of the globe to the 
hearths of the people. Soon, where, one brief year pre- 
ceding, solitude reigned supreme, a city stands in all the 
fresh vigor of its youth. The people, prosperous in all 
their undertakings, move through the streets. The age 
has advanced by so much as these peoples have been got- 
ten out of the old grooves of action, and, set into the new 
ones, have moved forward on broader gauges, to a later 
and more successful civilization. 

Think you, dear reader, that my picture is overdrawn? 
Let me take one instance out of three in my own 
personal experience of colonization in Colorado. 

The town of Greeley, in Weld county, Colorado, was 
settled in April, 1870, under the auspices of what was 
called the Union Colony, called together through the 
New York " Tribune." It is therefore a fair type of the 
new civilization that is fast converting the vast domains 
of the West into prosperous towns and thriving vil- 
lages. I well remember the strange thrill of satisfaction 
I experienced, when telegraphic announcement was made 
that a site had been chosen, lands selected, a home 
founded for those who had cast their lot together in the 
well nigh Quixotic scheme of founding a town in the Far 
West. For this was the jDioneer of the new system of 
settlement. Two thousand miles away. Why, the dis- 
tance itself was a damper upon enthusiasm. Why not 
in South America, Alaska, China, or the Islands of the 
Sea? Why in Colorado? The name itself was an augury. 
Grod's Country it has been, and still is, called. So we 
came from the bays of Maine and the capes of Florida, 
from the forests of Minnesota and the swamps of Louisi- 
ana, from the shores of the great inland lakes and from 



32 COLORADO AS AI^ AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

the pavements of the multitude burdened cities; strangers 
and yet friends; kindred through a common hope, a com- 
mon faith, a common purpose. And we pitched our 
tents in the bright day shine, and the soft, sweet star- 
light of that eventful summer on the banks of the fair 
flowing river, by whose side we vv^ere to receive a blessing 
or a ban. 

The record of the times in which the faith of manhood 
and the trust of v>-omanhood were tried, has never fairly 
been put upon paper, and never can be. Doubts chased 
eacli other through our minds as the fleet antelope chased 
its fellow across the broad prairies. Fears came with the 
morning sunbeams, and were not dispelled when the 
shadows of the night fell down upon us. But the hopes 
that had cheered our hearts through the long journey 
westward, never wholly died out. There were to be 
gains as well as losses. There were to be pleasures as 
well as pains. The tender bosom of Mother Earth 
gave out suggestions of the mighty forces concealed 
within, bidding us bend the witch-hazel rod of an in- 
domitable will, and the hidden treasure should be 
found. 

Can the reader imagine the situation? The chosen 
ground was unbroken for miles, and the winds of un- 
numbered centuries had blown oS the light soil, leaving 
a coat of gravel over the surface not covered by grass, or 
cactus. This grass was short and brown, and presented to 
the eye no evidence of nutritive qualities, w^hile the cac- 
tus did not then wear the variegated blossoms that 
make it attractive to the eye, while its prickly armor in 
no way commended it to the touch. 

There were days when from fifty to one hundred per- 
sons arrived, hardly any bringmg with them provisions, 
tents, blankets, or any of the necessaries of life.^ They 
could barely protect themselves from the cold winds, or 
the still colder ni^ht air. No canals had been dug, no 



colonizatio:n' ix Colorado. 33 

water was ru cuing, and in all the town there was but 
one well. 

Those were dark days for colonization in Colorado. 
Some there were who seemed to forget that it was the 
work of the colony to create a city, who expected to see 
one already built, with houses and stores, mills and fac- 
tories, schools and churches, — in fact, all the adjuncts of 
a settled civilization. Disappointment set their teeth 
upon edge, and kindled bitter feelings of animosity in 
their hearts. Tongues wagged, not wisely or well. Men 
had come to colonize, but not waiting to investigate, to 
examine the location, to test the capabilities of the soil, 
they remained to curse only so long as the next train east 
delayed its going. Then, shaking the dust of Greeley 
from their feet, they ^^went to their own place." 

Time passed. A survey was soon completed. Loca- 
tions were chosen by those who, having ventured so far, 
had sufficient foresight to see that the experiment was 
but at its beginning, and that success lay in the near fu- 
ture. The top of the ladder was not to be reached by 
one bound, even in Colorado. One by one the rungs 
were to be trodden, and by feet made weary on the up- 
ward way. 

But soon an irrigating canal was completed, and the 
water came dancing through the flumes like a minister- 
ing angel (as indeed it was), scattering blessings all 
along its path. It ran over the parched land, and blade 
and blossom awoke to a new beauty. The birds sang 
their welcome, early and late, to the new comers, whom 
destiny had brought to these so lately desolate, but now 
blooming prairie lands. Trees were planted. Active, 
earnest, true-hearted men and women set themselves to 
work with a spirit that deserved and achieved success. 
The cloud passed away — the sunshine took its place, and 
thenceforward cheered, warmed, and lighted the hearts 
of all. 



34 



COLORADO AS Alsf AGRICULTURAL STATE. 



Twelve years have passed away. Not twelve years of 
perfect success, for continually men find that there are 
obstacles and difficulties in their path, and that it is their 
mission to conquer them. And lo! after constructing a 
canal twenty feet wide and thirty miles long, capable of 
watering sixty thousand acres of land, the farmers found 
that they had an enemy to contend with they little 
expected, when settlement was first made. The grass- 
hoppers came down *4ike a wolf on the fold," and every 




A COLORADO PRAIRIE HOME. 

green thing disappeared at their coming. Had the visita- 
tion that came in 1873, come in 1870, where the town now 
stands, a deserted village would have stood. But, once 
settled, the battle once begun, it was wisest to fight stub- 
bornly until victory was gained. There have been years 
of failure, years of moderate, years of complete success. 
To-day there is a town of two thousand inhabitants, a 
large and prosperous farming community tributary to it, 
and the wealth of the State increased by millions. All 
the results of colonization. Three hundred thousand 
bushels of wheat were grown there last year. 



COLONTZATIOJq^ IN COLORADO. 35 

And what has been done at Greeley, has been done else- 
where, in a greater or less degree. In the years that fol- 
lowed, appeared Colorado Springs, Evans, Fort Collins, 
Longmont, Platteville, and other colony towns, and there 
is room for a score more now that the narrow-gauge 
railway, the Denver and Rio Grande, has pierced the for- 
bidding mountain passes, and entered the hearts of the 
great peaks and still greater valleys beyond the range. 
Here are opportunities for new colonies, greater than 
those in the past. Little clusters, or large companies of 
families, can gather together the lares and penates of the 
old home, and set them down on the altars of the new 
home, under the shadow of the mighty mountains in 
the gold and silver rock-ribbed heart of the Centennial 
State. 

The Valley of the Nile, for untold ages, supported 
a population of nearly eight millions. From the heights 
of Syene to the shores of the Mediterranean Sea it was 
once renowned for its fertility. The staple commodity, 
of course, was grain, the supply of which was so abund- 
ant that Syria and Arabia drew their supplies from it. 
The valley was cultivated, by irrigation, for three thou- 
sand years, and is still capable of furnishing millions with 
food. In Colorado there are hundreds of valleys equally 
adapted by nature for the same cultivation as was given 
by irrigation to the ancient valley, and millions of men 
and women can be supported by the product of the soil. 
Every square mile of land in Colorado is capable of pro- 
ducing twelve thousand eight hundred bushels of wheat, 
capable of supporting one hundred and seventy people on 
the basis of four hundred and fifty pounds of food per 
annum required for each adult. 

The pioneer system has had its day. The colony sys- 
tem takes its place. When the new and the old meet 
face to face, the new conquers. It was so when Paul, 
bearing in his hand the budding branches of the new 



36 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

Christianity, met Nero, the young-old Emperor (young in 
years, old in yicc), the fruit of the eUote Koman civiliza- 
tion, and by his earnest gaze and sincere speech, shivered 
the scepter with which Rome had so long ruled the world. 
It is so now when the new colonial civilization meets the 
old pioneer system, and sweeps away, on the instant, the 
long years of loneliness and solitary existence that were 
wont to intervene before the wave of civilized life reached 
the little community that had fastened its feeble life in 
the loneliness of the woods, the silence of the prairies, 
the solitary grandeur of the mountain ranges of the 
West. 



CHAPTER lY. 



IRRIGATION.— MEASUREMENT OF WATER. 

To write about Colorado agriculture and say nothing 
concerning irrigation, would be like enacting the play of 
Hamlet, leaving out the principal character therein. 
Yet the subject is one in which those principally inter- 
ested have advanced only as far as the A B C of know- 
ledge is concerned. Irrigation is as old, almost, as the 
world itself. In an article contributed to a Southern 
journal a year or two ago, Professor Whitney, of Florida, 
after referring to the practice of irrigation in Egypt, and 
to various scriptural allusions, showing that it was also 
practised by the Israelites, says that from reliable pro- 
fane writers we learn that this branch of agriculture was 
practised by the Romans long before the Christian Era. 
Virgil refers to it in his celebrated work on husbandry, 
the Georgics. The Chinese claim to have been familiar 
with it before the flood. Even the aborigines of the 
so-called New World were not ignorant of the system. 
The skill and civilization of the Aztecs, as displayed in 
their wondrously beautiful gardens, their immense reser- 
voirs and extensive aqueducts, are noted by Prescott and 
other historiographers of the Spanish Conquest. ^^ These 
relics of a long past age, found in every warm country, 
are enduring monuments of a progressive civilization, 
compared with which desolate fields and crumbling 
cities, the sad mementoes of military renown, are as the 
patient and useful animals of domestic economy to the 
prowling beasts of prey, whose only province is to 
destroy. " 
(37) 



38 COLORADO AS AN" AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

As one reads of projected canals in Colorado, whose 
lengths are to reach to fifty miles or more, we are apt to 
think that their projectors are about to undertake some- 
thing on an immense scale, which is to be the wonder of 
the world. Yet these canals will be puny compared 
with some that have been in operation for hundreds of 
years in Italy and elsewhere. The Ganges Canal, of 
India, is one thousand miles long, discharging eight 
thousand cubic feet of water per second. It has re- 
clamied from the desert eleven million acres, and put 
them under successful cultivation. We are told that 
'^the great canal of the Ticino, in Italy, was constructed 
in the twelfth century, and for more than six hundred 
years has carried a volume of water equal to one thou- 
sand eight hundred cubic feet per second. This large 
mass of water is conducted through the country by 
thousands of different channels, fertilizing and stimu- 
lating the soil to such a remarkable degree, as to render 
the region through which it passes one of the most pro- 
ductive and densely populated in the world." The 
plains of Assyria and Babylon were once covered with 
canals. The irrigated lands of Spain amount to five 
hundred thousand acres. In France there are three hun- 
dred thousand acres under this beneficent system. In 
fact, the history of numberless nations, ancient and 
modern, is full of facts connected with this interesting 
topic. 

In this new subject, then, which after all is so old, 
every citizen, present and prospective, of Colorado, has a 
deep and abiding interest. The future of agriculture 
depends upon it, and therefore much of the welfare and 
prosperity of the State hinges upon the establishment of 
a correct system of the division of the waters, the eco- 
nomic use of them, and their storage in reservoirs, natural 
and constructed, when not wanted for present use. 

There are so manv conflicting interests involved in 



IRKIGATIOJT. — MEASUEEiTEXT OF WATEE. 39 

this complex question, that it seems as though the State 
must eyentually assume the control of the canal system, 
managing it for the best interests of all concerned, tax- 
ing each district according to the yolume of water that is 
used, and for the expense of superintendence and repairs. 

The exact number of canals belonging to corporate 
comj^anies and to individuals in Colorado is unknown. 
The number will probably reach to one thousand, though 
not more than fifty are of any great size. 

The question as to the amount of water required per 
acre, and if the land does not need less and less each year 
after it has been subjected to irrigation, has elicited a 
variety of opinions. It is said that land lying under the 
first canal built in Colorado, twenty-two years ago, re- 
quires as much water now as it did the first season. It 
seems to be the experience of farmers in and around 
Greeley, where they base their conclusions on twelve 
years of observation, that this is a fact. Yet in Utah 
the case seems to be established on the other side. 
Bishop Musser, of that Territory, in an address before 
the Irrigation Convention held in Denver in 1873, said: 
** When Salt Lake City was first founded, the water ca- 
pacity for irrigating purposes did not exceed eight hun- 
dred or nine hundred acres. Now, between four thou- 
sand and five thousand acres are successfully irrigated. 
At first the land was arid and thirsty. Subsequent irri- 
gation saturated and settled the soil, and thus slaked 
much of its early thirst. The increased rainfall — no 
doubt superinduced by agriculture, occupation and cul- 
tivation — and the numerous fruit and shade trees — like 
so many mulching agencies neutralized the drying effects 
of the sun's rays and of the prevailing winds — have very 
largely contributed to cool and moisten the soil, and to 
lessen the necessity of frequent and elaborate watering." 
Dr. E. E. Edwards, late President of the Colorado Agri- 
cultural College, in an address on the utility of trees, 



40 COLORADO AS A>q^ AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

before a Farmers' Institute, held a year or two ago, in 
Denver, cited some later facts from Utah, bearing out 
the supposition that each year would require less water 
for irrigation. But it would seem as though — in the 
past ages — this important point was overlooked or not 
recognized, since we find no mention made of it in pa- 
pers bearing upon irrigation in ancient times. The soil 
of Utah is not likely to be very diHerent from that of 
Colorado. There is on record a statement of the charac- 
ter of the soil of over forty thousand acres under the 
various canals devoted to the cereals, vegetables, fruits, 
and in meadow, and the table stands as follows: 

Black Loam 7,200 Acres. 

Sandy Loam 3,800 '' 

Loam and Gravel 8,250 " 

Loam and Clay 3,500 " 

Loam and Alkali 1,200 " 

Clay aud Giavel 5,000 " 

Clay and Plaster 3,500 " 

Alkali, Iron, and Sand 2,500 " 

Sand Alkali and Volcanic 1,000 " 

Thus all kinds of soil are covered. 

It is probable that the upper or bench lands require 
each year the same amount of water; but the lower 
lands, especially those classed as ^'bottom lands," verg- 
ing on the streams themselves, receive all the water they 
need through percolation. In fact, thousands of acres of 
what were once the finest hay lands in the valleys are 
now nothing but swamp lands, the direct result of seep- 
age from the large canals lying two or three miles above 
them on the bench lands. In these cases a thorough 
system of drainage, involving more or less of expense, 
must eventually be adopted, or the lands will be ruined. 

Touching the cost of irrigation, the figures vary from 
the extremely low amount of ten cents per acre up to the 
high rate of sixteen dollars. Water generally rents for 
from one dollar to three dollars per acre annually, and, 



IKRIGATIOX. — MEASUREMENT OF WATER. 41 

taking a fair average, may be set down at two dollars per 
acre. Where canals have been built on the colony, or 
cooperative plan, each land-holder having an interest in 
them, the cost per acre covers only superintendence and 
repairs, and does not reach over twenty-five cents per 
acre. But most of the canals are owned by corporations 
who rent the water at a fixed rate, and, in such cases, there 
is no lower rate than one dollar, while some charge three 
dollars. One inch of water per acre is the general allow- 
ance. Perpetual water rights under some canals, subject 
to assessment for repairs and superintendence, now have a 
valuation as high as one thousand two hundred and fifty 
dollars. 

Concerning the affinity of water and soil, the following 
scientific explanation is from the pen of Dr. Parsons: 
"Without irrigation, this country (Colorado) would be 
comparatively worthless for agricultural purposes. Water 
being a universal solvent, sets free certain qualities in the 
earth which are taken up through it as a medium. The 
vegetable kingdom, like the animal, imbibes water, the 
former from within, the latter from without. The ap- 
paratus of the plant is its roots, leaves, and branches, for 
absorbing water, potassium, ammonia, and other chemical 
substances, which go so largely toward building it up. A 
plant, like a man, if it gets too much nutriment in the 
shape of water, or anything else, is ruined. Corn espec- 
ially may very readily get too much water, and the result 
is small ears and a light crop. For corn and potatoes it 
is better to let the water run some distance from them, 
and then allow the fluid to percolate gradually to the 
growing substances. The quality of the soil in this con- 
nection must also be considered. The vegetable feeds 
upon the mineral. It has always been so. Formerly 
there was more carbonic acid gas in the atmosphere than 
now, and consequently plants developed rapidly. The 
absorption of this gas by the earth deprived the atmos- 



42 COLORADO AS AIST AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

phere of this excess of gas, and then came the era of 
animal life. This is not an alluvial country, like that of 
the Mississippi Valley. The soil is better than that. It 
gives greater nutriment to the cereals, and they in turn 
give more substance to people who consume the grain." 

In considering the time for irrigation, it may be said, 
as a general rule, that early in the morning, or late in 
the afternoon and evening, are the best times. The 
bright and powerful sun, when shining upon the young 
and tender plants and growing grain, may have a dele- 
terious influence when water is applied. This is not an 
assured fact, but very many entertain such a belief. 
When the grain is high enough to yield a shadow, then 
it does not so much matter. One thing is certain, in 
Egypt and India, the evening, the night, and the early 
morning were chosen as the best time for the flowing of 
water iipon the crops. On clay soil slight and frequent 
irrigation is best. On sandy soil, the water can be run 
broadcast until the field is thoroughly flooded. Water in 
May germinates the seed, but does not act as a fertilizer 
of the soil to the extent that it does later; in June and 
July the sedimentary matter is running heavily, and the 
streams and canals are laden with fertilizing material 
which decreases as the streams lower in volume in the fall. 
The soil should not be kept in a continually moist condi- 
tion on top, because its apparent dryness is no indication 
that there is not sufficient moisture below. 

Mr. W. D. Arnett, one of the principal farmers on 
Bear Creek, beyond Denver, once said at a Farmers' Club 
meeting that farmers irrigated too little. If irrigation 
was practised after the crops were gathered, and at all 
times when convenient, it would only be providing crops 
with a more bountiful repast. A farmer in the St. Vrain 
Valley, writing to his home organ, also gives testimony 
in favor of fall irrigation; he irrigated his ground as 
thoroughly as though he had a crop growing upon it, and 



IKRIGATION. — MEASUREMKXT OF WATER. 43 

as soon as it became sufficiently dry, he started his plow, 
and stopped only when freezing ground compelled him 
to do so. It took but a short time to do this in the fall, 
and he regarded his gain as follows: First, plowing was 
done with less wear on team, plow, and patience. Second, 
earlier crops were put in, requiring less irrigation to ma- 
ture them. Third, an earlier harvest, giving him the ad- 
vantage of a high market. Fourth, fall irrigation in- 
creased his crop by adding fertility to the soil when there 
was no growing crop to absorb it. This last argument, 
while all seem good, is a new one not advanced before; if 
true, the knowledge is of inestimable value to farmers in 
Colorado, so many of whom are croppers year after year, 
returning nothing to the soil from which they take so 
much. 

Early in 1873 Mr. Henry T. West, of Greeley, in an 
able communication to the ^'Tribune" of that place, call- 
ed attention to this subject of fall plowing, advocating 
thoroughly wetting the ground during the fall and win- 
ter, and, if possible, plowing and wetting down again. 
Ground thus treated, he argued, would need but little 
water the following growing season. In proof of this he 
referred to a crop of wheat raised on sod ground (which 
generally requires more moisture than old land), that had 
been treated in the manner referred to, and had yielded over 
forty bushels of wheat to the acre, without irrigation dur- 
ing the season of growth. He added, " The true economist 
endeavors to make the most of what he has, and if our 
people can be shown that by using water properly, they 
can water thoroughly treble the number of acres they 
now saturate partly, and so increase their yield of crops 
from fifty to one hundred per cent, they ought, at least, 
to test the matter." 

This seems to be the custom in Utah, where fall irriga- 
tion is practised to a great extent. There the flow is 
especially for grain, sowing as early in the spring as pos- 



44 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

sible. In studying the methods by which the greatest 
amount of land can be brought under the water supply 
of the State, this point is one to be taken into con- 
sideration. 

An observant writer in one of the valley papers of the 
State — the Sagauche " Chronicle" — gives a few practical 
hints worthy of being embodied in this chapter. 

" In preparing the ground for planting, the aim should 
be to have it in such condition that the crop, when 
planted, will come up and make a good growth before 
the first irrigation is resorted to. If the ground is to be 
broken in the spring, and is not sufficiently moist to 
germinate the seeds, it should be irrigated before plow- 
ing, planting to follow as soon thereafter as possible. If 
the ground is in proper condition it should be dragged 
with a log, or rolled with a roller, after planting, to 
smooth and level the surface. It has been found that 
the ground dries out on such a surface to the depth of 
an inch, and that inch forms a non-conductor of moisture 
from below, and the soil thereby retains the moisture in 
it for a long time. 

**As a rule, the longer the first application of water for 
irrigation can be put off, the better it will be for the 
crop. The evaporation of moisture from the soil is ac- 
complished by capillary attraction. If the particles of 
soil are packed closely together, the evaporation of mois- 
ture is much more rapid than when the soil is loose. When 
it is loose and moist, the tender rootlets have the best 
opportunity for growth and expansion, and as the soil 
dries they strike downward, getting so far below the sur- 
face that the plant stands a drouth much better than one 
whose roots remain near the surface. When the ground 
has to be irrigated before the seed is up, the soil becomes 
packed, and dries out rapidly, and irrigation is oftener 
required. Once begun it must be kept up until the crop 
is about ripening." 



IRRIGATIOJT. — MEASUREMENT OF WATER. 45 

There is more damage done to crops by too much irri- 
gation than by too little. Much more water is used than 
would be necessary if the ground was properly prepared 
beforehand, and water applied intelligently afterwards. 
Hundreds of fields of gram have suffered from too much 
water early in the season where one has suffered from 
drouth. 

The experience of many farmers who have failed, dur- 
ing a dry season, to get the water they contracted for, 
has shown this to be a fact. 

It is thought by many that irrigation is a very expen- 
sive method; this belief, no doubt, keeps many farmers 
from settling in Colorado. But it is not true. On the 
contrary, it is rather an advantage to '^hold the rain in 
the hollow of one's hand." It may add a little to the 
labor required to be performed upon an acre of land, but 
the increased yield more than repays this extra toil. The 
cultivation of crops being insured by the ability to apply 
the moisture just when it is needed, drouth is defied, and 
a harvest almost certain. The preparation of irrigating 
canals will not, on an average, exceed the expense of 
drainage required in rainy countries, while a dry country 
means dry air, health, clear skies, and good roadways. 
Wheat can be raised at an expense of fifty cents per 
bushel, or ten dollars per acre, taking the low average of 
twenty bushels as the yield, leaving a net profit of four- 
teen dollars per acre. Oats can be raised at an expense 
of ten dollars, and yield a profit not lower than wheat. 
Corn can be raised at a cost of seven dollars per acre, 
and return a profit of fourteen dollars. Potatoes average in 
expense twenty dollars, and in moderately good seasons re- 
turn a profit of sixty dollars per acre. It will be seen that 
a good margin of profit lies in these figures, and while 
there may be seasons when excessive drouth, or untimely 
frost, or grasshopper visitations may curtail the harvest, 
yet these are less frequent than the storms, the drouth, 



46 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

and the insects that periodically visit the fields in the 
Eastern States. 

The labor of irrigation is not so great as might be im- 
agined. When once the laterals are built that conduct 
the main currents of water over the farm, it is not diffi- 
cult to follow them up, using a spade to cut the bank here 
and there to allow the water to overflow into the growing 
grain. Flooding is pursued for grain, and running in 
furrows, where there are rows, as with corn, cane, pota- 
toes, and vegetables. To describe the methods of irriga- 
tion would take up too much space. There are almost 
as many ways as there are farms. The lay of the land 
must be taken into consideration, and methods must be 
devised to suit circumstances. Yet one man can easily 
tend to the irrigation of eighty acres of wheat, or forty 
acres of potatoes. Some fortunate farmers are able, by a 
thorough system of laterals, with suitable flood-gates, to let 
the water into their fields toward night-fall, and go to bed 
feeling assured that in the morning they will find a large 
acreage well soaked with the precious fluid. But new 
comers will probably puzzle their heads over the problem. 
It is only by experience that an economical system of irriga- 
tion can be established on each farm. The contour of 
the land decides the cost. But, once arranged, with a 
little care, the bugbear of irrigation becomes a work of 
pleasure to those engaged in it. It is a study not easily 
learned. Once mastered, the man is master of the situa- 
tion for all seasons. 

For grain, two irrigations, in June and July, are gen- 
erally sufficient. In some years, one suffices. For garden 
purposes, much more water is required, depending some- 
what upon the character of the soil; if very sandy, more 
is required than where loam or clay predominates. In 
gardening it is not best to apply the water directly to the 
growing plant. The method pursued in Homer's time 
has come down to us, and is accepted as the best. Water 



IRRIGATIO:^". — MEASUREMEi^T OF WATER. 47 

is made to flow in furrows, reaching the roots by 
seepage. 

MEASUREMENT OF WATER. 

The measurement of water is one of the important 
questions that continually confront both the seller and 
the buyer of water for irrigation. To secure its equit- 
able distribution is a problem commanding the atten- 
tion of hydraulic engineers elsewhere, as well as in 
Colorado. In the report of the commissioners on the in- 
vestigation of the San Joaquin, and other valleys in Cali- 
fornia, made to Congress a few years ago, we find it stated 
that water should only be sold by measure, and that the 
introduction of a system of selling water by the cubic 
foot would make it to the interest of the cultivator to 
use it economically. The difficulties attending this 
measurement, under different and ever varying heads, 
and through varying dimensions and shapes of outlets, 
have been many. They have been met here in Colorado, 
and there are few farmers who, using the inch measure 
under pressure, know how much water they get or use, 
though they know how much they pay for. The grade, 
the size of the orifice through which the water flows, the 
deptb and breadth of the channel, all affect the result, 
more or less. There is no one rule that governs all the 
canals in Colorado. In Greeley one method prevails. 
In Longmont another, and so on, in various parts of the 
State. 

In the early days when water was abundant, and canals^ 
were few in number and small in size, there was no call 
for any specially defined plan. But now that canals are 
multiplied, and corporations invest immense sums in 
their construction, with a view to their being a source of 
income, the necessity for thorough investigation and cer- 
tain conclusions becomes evident. The subject has already 



48 COLORADO AS AIS" AGRICULTUUAL STATE. 

secured the attention of the most distinguished hydraulic 
engineer resident in Colorado. Mr. E. S. Nettleton, 
(together with Mr. James Duff, who is at the head of 
two of the largest Irrigation Works in the State), has, of 
late, carefully examined into the best modes of measur- 
ing and also into the average unit of water for land m 
various crops. It is probable that the Water Right 
established as the result of his investigations, will be 
generally accepted as the Unit. Several canal companies 
have already done so, and it will be an advantage to the 
entire State when the one rule prevails everywhere. 

The quantity of water which is of late called '^ The 
English Company's Water Right " — in use by the Larimer 
and Weld Irrigation Company and the Northern Colorado 
Irrigation Company — is the quantity of water fixed upon 
by that company sufiBcient to irrigate eighty acres of land. 
To determine what amount of water is on an average 
required for this amount of land, compelled careful study 
of the practices and requn-ements of irrigation in districts 
within the State where it has been the most methodically 
and successfully carried on during the past ten years. 

The quantity given by this company for a water right 
is one and forty-four hundredths cubic feet per second, 
which is measured by the simplest method possible, at 
the same time with greater accuracy than can be done 
when water is delivered under a pressure. 

Eminent hydraulic engineers have spent a vast amount 
of time and money in experiments in determining the 
quantity of water flowing through openings of all descrip- 
tions and conditions, and are united in calling the Weir 
measurement the most accurate. 

This method has been adopted as being not only simple 
and accurate, but inexpensive, and adapted to a wide 
range of uses, giving the quantity of water in the smallest 
irrigation ditch or the largest canal, with equal accuracy. 

The W^eir method of measuring is simply to pass the 



lERIGATION. — MEASUREMENT OF WATER. 



49 



water through a notch or opening without pressure; it is 
simply surface measurement; having the width of the 
opening given and the height of the water flowing over 
the bottom of the opening, the exact quantity in a second, 
minute, or hour can be ascertained. 

Heretofore the ^'inch" method of measuring water has 
been used as a unit of measure in the selling and rental 







WEm DAM, FOB MEASUREMENT OF WATER. 

of water, which was a very good method in early days in 
Colorado when a small amount of water was to be divided 
among a few persons. But this system is not practicable 
in the days of large canals, besides an inch of water may 
be one quantity or another, differing in some cases nearly 
one hundred per cent, according to circumstances. 

The ^* Inch " as prescribed by the statutes of Colorado 
and the apparatuses for measuring it is, theoretically 
about forty-five cubic inches of water every second. 
2 



50 COLORADO AS AK AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

The following will give some idea of the quantity and 
duty of the Water Right above alluded to : 

A water right=l'y,o„ cubic feet per second, 

A water right=55 statute inches m equal time. 

A water right = one acre of land, iy,„ inches deep 
per hour. 

A water right=one acre one foot deep in 8'/^ hours. 

A water right=80 acres of land, 43 inches deep, in 
100 days continually running. 

The following are short rules for determining approxi- 
mately the mean velocity in irrigating ditches : 

Where v=velocity in feet per second. 

Where s= sectional area in feet. 

Where f =fall in feet per mile. 

Where p=wet perimeter. 

FORMULA. 



v=V' 



s 

— X 
P 



2/ 



For actual velocity in irrigation ditches, with irregular 
cross sections, curves and angles, reduce the velocity ob- 
tained by the above rate from twenty to fifty per cent. 



ANOTHER RULE. 



/ s X f X 15 



For ditches with angles, curves and irregular and ill- 
shaped cross-sections, reduce the velocity obtained by this 
rule from fifteen to thirty-five per cent. 

We give the following formula for finding the depth 
of water to pass over a weir, to give a certain discharge in 
cubic feet per second, when the length of the weir, in 
feet, and the required discharge are given : 



IRSIGATIOX. — MEASUKEMEKT OF WATEE. 

Let h=hea(l in feet on the crest of the weir. 
Let q=cubic feet discharged per second. 
Let l=length of weir in feet. 
Then— 



3. 33 X 






51 



HOW TO DIVIDE WATER. 

The following method of dividing water is the inven- 
tion of J. Max Clark, of Greeley, and is in use in the 
canals there and at other points in the State. 

It has been demonstrated by ^^time test" that this 
flume will deliver (the proper conditions being fulfilled) 




CLARK'S METHOD OF DIVIDING WATER, 

a like quantity of water in a like time in any part of a 
ditch, without regard to different rate of flume in differ- 
ent parts of the same canal. Three conditions are neces- 
sary for its use to deliver water correctly : 

1st. The flume must be level. 

2d, There must be a free delivery below (that is the 
water must not back up to the bottom of the measuring 
gate). 

3d. The water must be kept at an even height in the 
flume by means of the regulating gate, which must be 
carefully watched and changed to eff'ect this object, as 
the canal may fluctuate. 



52 COLOKADO AS AN AGEICULTURAL STATE. 

The measuring gate must be a few inches above the 
bottom of the flume so as to check the water current — 
six inches or more — as the head of water may permit, 
and bring the water in all the flumes under the same 
conditions. The measuring gate is generally about four- 
teen inches wide and the width of the whole flume will 
depend, of course, on the probable amount of water that 
may ever be required to be delivered in each particular 
instance; those in use at Greeley vary from one to six 
feet in width. They are open at the top and are uni- 
formly three feet deep, that having been found the 
most convenient depth. 

There is a scale represented both across the top of the 
measuring operator and up and down the side of the 
opening. Any depth of water can be delivered; the 
same depth is maintained in all the flumes and the neces- 
sary quantity regulated by closing or opening the measur- 
ing gate. As for instance, if you adopt as your standard, 
ten inches deep and you want to give one man fifty inches 
of water, you would open the gate five inches; if you 
want to give one hundred inches, you would open the 
gate ten inches, and if the conditions here named have 
been fulfilled, the last named will get exactly double the 
amount of water delivered to the first, no matter at what 
part of the canal they may be. 



DIVIDING WATER IN LATERAL DITCHES. 

I also give a cut of a dividing flume — designed to 
divide the water in a lateral ditch among the parties 
using the same, giving each his proportion of all the 
water in the lateral, whether the water in lateral be high 
or low. 

It is usually made about six feet long, from three to 
six feet wide (according to the size of the ditch in which 



lERIGATIOX. — MEASUREMEJ^T OF WATER. 



53 



it is to be used), and deep enough to carry all the water 
required of it. 

The flume must be set level. It is made of an inch or 
three-fourths stuff, with two by four stuff for ties and 
standards, and a two by four check on top of the floor at 
the up stream— C. At one side is attached the deliver- 
ing flume B, uniform in depth with D, and of such size 
as may be needful. 

Within these is the movable gate or partition A F, 
strengthened by the brace I, with arm E long enough to 




DIVIDING WATER EN LATERAL DITCHES. 

lap on the side of delivery flume B, when A is moved 
over to the side D. 

The direction of the water is shown by arrows. The 
up stream end of A should be sharpened like a wedge. 
This gate must be of the same depth as the sides, and 
will of course move under the top cross ties, on one of 
which is a measuring scale, as shown in the cut. 

Suppose there are eight men drawing water through the 
same ditch. Now it makes no difference whether they 
divide the water according to the number of acres under 
cultivation, or by the shares owned by each in the ditch, 
or by the number of inches belonging to each; or what- 
ever be the basis of division, the first man on the ditch 
nearest the head, will be entitled to a certain fractional 



54 COLORADO AS AN" AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

part of all the water, as one-sixth, one-eighth, five- 
eighths, or some easily ascertained fraction. Sui:)pose he 
is to have one-eighth. Set the movable gate A so that 
one-eighth the width is on the side next to the delivery 
flume, then seven-eighths must be on the other side. A 
nail or pin through the top cross tie into A will hold 
it in place. The next man below will be entitled in like 
manner to a fractional part of what is still in the ditch, 
and his gate must be set accordingly, and so on to the 
eighth or last man, to whom belongs all that passes the 
seventh. The first man has no interest in any division 
but his own; the last man has an interest in all the divis- 
ions, and a very vital interest it is, as all will agree who 
have been thus situated. 

This flume, like the first shown, was invented by Mr. 
Clark, of Greeley, and has been in use in the laterals un- 
der the Greeley canals for eight or ten years, and has given 
entire satisfaction in all cases. Being easily adjusted it 
is very convenient in case of an exchange of water among 
parties drawing from the same lateral — a common prac- 
tice in Colorado. 



CHAPTER V. 



AEEA OF IRRIGATION IN COLORADO. 

I give, in this chapter, the estimated amount of irriga- 
ble lands in Colorado, as collated from the various re- 
ports of Prof. Hayden and his geological and geographi- 
cal surveys of Colorado and the adjacent territories. 
These estimates may be too large; it is difficult to deter- 
mine with accuracy upon a subject so little known, but 
the data will be found interesting and perhaps valuable, 
in connection with the questions that confront the people 
on the subject of irrigation. Even if a discount of one- 
third is allowed, it will be found that the area of irriga- 
tion is larger than has been heretofore supposed. Fifty 
million bushels of wheat grown annually in Colorado, is 
one of the possibilities of the future, though at this time, 
if such a prophecy was uttered, it would be laughed at. 

IN NORTHERN COLORADO. 

Square Miles. 

The South Platte 933 

Cache-a-la-Poudre 174 

Big Thompson 116 

Little Thompson 44 

St. Vrain 87 

Boulder 87 

Clear and Ralston 234 

Bear 58 

Cherry and East Plum 44 

West Plum 72 

Total 1,849 

This gives one million one hundred and eighty-three 
thousand three hundred and sixty acres in the valley of 
(55) 



56 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

the South Platte and the valleys of the streams empty- 
ing into it. 

IN SOUTHERN COLORADO. 

Square Miles. 

Arkansas 1,979 

Pur^atoire 145 

Apishpa 87 

Huerfano 85 

Cucharas 145 

St. Charles and Greenhorn 155 

Fontaine qui Bouille 145 

Turkey; 30 

Beaver 15 

Chalk 30 

Oil 45 

Currant 15 

Total 2,876 

There is an area of land susceptible to irrigation lying 
in Southern Colorado east of the range, of nearly two 
million acres, about double the amount lying in Northern 
Colorado along the same eastern slope. 



IN SAN LUIS PARK. 

Square Miles. 

Rio Grande 500 

Alamosa and La Jara 100 

Conejos 100 

Trinchera 72 

Culebra 58 

Costilla 29 

Gata 15 

Total 874 

In consequence of the sandy soil and the waste of 
water, it becomes necessary to allow five cubic feet of 
water, instead of three, to the square mile in this section 
of Colorado. This gives an area of five hundred and 
fifty seven thousand three hundred and sixty acres in 
this park that can be irrigated. 



AREA OF IRRIGATION IN COLORADO. 57 

In the San Juan country, the main stream is the San 
Juan, which has a fine valley, one or two miles wide, and 
about fifty long. In this there are three hundred and 
ninety-two square miles capable of irrigation, making 
two hundred and fifty thousand acres, distributed in 
narrow belts in and near the mountains, at elevations 
varying from three thousand three hundred feet to nine 
thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight feet. 

The Grand River country is at present almost a " terra 
incognita;" but all accounts that float eastward from it, 
pronounce it one of the finest and most productive 
portions of the State. This river, fed by the Un- 
compahgre, Gunnison, and numerous small streams, 
unites with the Green to make the great Rio Colorado of 
the West. Using the language of Prof. Hayden *' it con- 
sists of Middle Park and the inner slopes of its mountain 
barriers, a large part of the Park range, the western 
slopes of the Sagauche range, the Elk Mountains, the 
north and west slope of the San Juan Mountains, the 
southern portion of the great White River plateau, be- 
sides an enormous area of the broken plateau country far- 
ther westward." In setting down the arable land on 
the Grand River, the estimate does not cover the volume 
of water carried by the stream, which is said to be as 
much as six thousand cubic feet per second, but only the 
level arable land contiguous to the stream. 

Square Miles. 

Grand River 320 

Branches in the park 30 

Egeria 30 

Eagle 87 

Roaring Fork 15 

Gunnison and its branches 500 

Uncompahgre « 200 

Dolores 145 

Total 1,327 

This gives an arable area of eight hundred and forty- 



58 COLORADO AS AK AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

nine thousand two hundred and eighty acres, with eleva- 
tions ranging from three thousand nine hundred up to 
nine thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine feet. 
Grasses abound, and some grains can be easily raised at 
this high altitude. The water supply of this section is 
probably largely in excess of the lands that lie suitable 
for cultivation. 

The amount of land that can be irrigated on the White 
Eiver and its branches amounts to one hundred and 
seventy-four square miles, or one hundred and eleven 
thousand three hundred and sixty acres, an area by no 
means sufficient to use up all the water carried by the 
stream. The belt of cultivable land nowhere exceeds 
a mile in width, except in Simpson's Park, where the 
White River Agency, which was the scene of the Meeker 
Massacre, is located. 

The only section now left to be considered is the Yam- 
pah; the arable area is on the main stream and its 
branches. Sage Creek, Williams and Little Snake Rivers. 
The arable land amounts to three hundred and nineteen 
square miles, or two hundred and four thousand one hun- 
dred and sixty acres. In the month of November, at 
the lowest stage of the water, the Yampah has been 
found to carry three hundred and sixty-four cubic feet 
per second, indicating an abundance of water in the irri- 
gating season for all the land that can be reached for 
cultivation. 

It will be seen, from an examination of the figures 
given, that there are nearly eight thousand square miles 
of areas that can be irrigated in Colorado, amounting to 
over five million acres. Prof. Cyrus Thomas estimates, 
and Dr. Hayden agrees with him, that twenty-five per 
cent, of this amount could be irrigated with water from 
our present imperfect irrigating system. This gives one 
and a quarter million acres of land fit for cultivation, 
with only about one hundred thousand as yet in use. 



AREA OF IRRICtATIO:N' I:N^ COLORADO. 59 

Eleven -twelfths await settlement. So the possible value 
of the farming lands of the future may be set down at 
seventy-five millions dollars annually. 

In the year 1873, an Irrigating Convention was held 
in Denver, at which were present the principal agricul- 
turists and publicists of the State. Some of the speakers 
** went upon the record" as to the amount of land Col- 
orado had water supply for. One considered that there 
was enough, without a reservoir system, to irrigate seven 
hundred and fifty thousand acres of land. Another be- 
lieved that ultimately three millions would be cultivated. 
Still another — and an engineer at that — solemnly de- 
clared that with canals properly constructed to tap the 
mountain streams, thirty-five millions of acres could be 
placed in cultivation. Another, an ex-Governor, thought 
that Colorado had a water supply amply sufficient to 
irrigate six million acres, an arable area which, in Egypt, 
in the time of the Ptolemys, supplied food for eight 
million people. 

These points, gathered at random from notes taken at 
the Conveation, I simply offer to show what a wide dif- 
ference of opinion existed then, and does still, in regard 
to the amount of land in Colorado that can be irrigated. 



CHAPTER VI. 



HOW FARMING IN COLORADO PAYS. 

Those who raised wheat in the early days of Colorado, 
say in 1866, when they were paid fourteen cents per pound 
for what little was grown in the country, if asked to day, 
if wheat growing paid in Colorado, would probably shake 
their heads and answer dubiously, '*No times like the 
old times, before the railroads struck the country, when 
people came with no other object than to get rich quick 
and then scud back to the States." So too, in regard to 
potatoes. In the year 1862, there were so many raised in 
the territory that farmers offered to give them away to 
any who would take the trouble to dig them up. One 
farmer declares that he raised one potato that year weigh- 
ing eleven and a quarter pounds. Those who raised this 
tuber in that year, probably came to the conclusion that, 
as a whole, farming was a mighty uncertain and unprof- 
itable pursuit. Again, take for instance, the man who 
saw an army of grasshoppers settle upon his grain field, 
and in a few hours destroy it utterly. He, too, looking 
through glasses colored by circumstance, will declare that 
the losses — one year with another — overbalance the 
profits, and that ** there is no money in farming in Col- 
orado." 

It was customary for journals and immigration 

agents, in -some quarters, a few years ago, to argue that 

farming could not be profitable in Colorado, save under 

exceptional circumstances, and with a high priced mar- 

(60) 



HOW FARMING II^" COLORADO PAYS. 61 

ket. But, as a writer in the Denver " Rocky Mountain 
News," as far back as 1873, said *' there has been enough 
of success at farming in Colorado to prove the contrary; 
not only that farming can be successfully carried on 
here, but that it can be followed with a larger and more 
certain annual profit than in any other part of the 
United States." 

It is a safe assertion to make that four annual crops 
out of five can be successfully raised in the State, and 
this is as good an average as ought to be asked for, or is 
had elsewhere. The area of arable land is not so large 
as to induce ruinous competition at home, and the dis- 
tance from the grain-producing districts of other States 
and Territories is great enough, not to shut out compe- 
tition, but to make the competing price a fair one for the 
farmer. A constantly increasing mining interest is a 
sure guarantee of an ever ready market for all that can 
be produced. 

At one of the Colorado Farmer's Institutes, held a year 
or two ago, it was asserted that wheat could be raised for 
fifty cents per bushel. This is a very low figure, and one 
not reached by any calculation given in this chapter. Oth- 
ers put the figure at sixty-five cents. 

But few farmers keep accurate accounts by which they 
can arrive at satisfactory conclusions as to the cost of the 
crops they raise each year. A farmer's account book 
should be considered a necessity on every farm. Then a 
little care in making proper entries will give the data 
from which he can decide as to future operations. The 
profit in farming here, as in other places, lies concealed 
in many little things of which no account is taken. In 
the wastage of the farm vanishes many per cent, that 
might be added to the general aggregate of profit. 

Before giving tables prepared by farmers during the 
last eight or nine years, I submit a general estimate of 
the cost of raising wheat on old and new land: — 



62 COLORADO AS AK AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

Purchase price. ne>r land. Cost of culiivaiion Cost of cultivation 

S800 ; old land, $1,400 to $1,000. on new land. on old land. 

Interest on cost @ 10 per cent ^ 80.00 §160.00 

Interest on Water Right 40.00 40.00 

Plowing 176.00 100.00 

Harrowing 80.00 80.00 

Seed 75.00 75.00 

Labor of two Irrigations 80.00 80.00 

Harvesting and Stacking 200.00 200.00 

Threshing 15 bush's on new, 25 on old land, 128.00 192.00 

Marketing 48.00 72.00 

Totals $907.00 $999.00 

Estimated yield from new land 1,200 bushels. 

Estimated yield from old land 2,000 bushels. 

At 2 cents per lb., or $1.20 per bushel. ..$1,440.00 $2,400.00 

Net profit 553.00 1,000.00 

Peracre 6.67 12.50 

Costperacre 11.46 13.48 

Here is another estimate, based on a single acre, from 
a farmer in the valley of the St. Vrain: 

Interest on land $2.00 

Plowing 1.50 

Seeding and Harvesting 1.00 

Seed 1.50 

Irrigating 1.00 

Cutting and Stacking 2.50 

Threshing and Storing 2.00 

Total $11.50 

Average yield twenty-two bushels. Selling price one 
dollar per bushel. Net profit ten dollars and a half per 
acre. 

In the year 1873, Mr. William Lee, a farmer in Clear 
Creek Valley, within five miles of Denver, kept an ac- 
count of his crop of wheat on his home farm of one hun- 
dred and twenty acres. It ran as follows: — 

Plowing, Seeding, and Feed $274.20 

Harvesting and Stacking 243.30 

Threshing 86.50 

Two men, 7 months, @ $40 per month 560.00 

Water, 100 inches, @ $1.50 150.00 

Seed, 240 bushels @ $1.50 360.00 

Total $1,674.00 



HOW FARMING IX COLORADO PAYS. 63 

Received 1,800 bushels of wheat, being an average of 

14i bushels per acre. Sold @ $1.38. Total 82,484.00 

Net profit from 120 acres $810.00 

Net profit per acre 6,75 

It will be seen that the crop was very small per acre, 
and the labor expense very high. Now labor only costs 
twenty dollars to twenty-five dollars per month. The 
*^ Colorado Farmer," from which this account is taken, 
said of it "This having been an unfortunate year (the 
grasshoppers paid a visit to the State that season) for 
Colorado farmers, the profits realized are very small, yet 
it gives a correct idea of the expense atteuding the cut- 
ting of the crop mentioned, and reliable data as to what 
the profits may be in a good year with a fair yield. 
Looked at in this light it is not discouraging. Any one 
can see that with a full yield and fair prices, the profits 
would be remunerative, as everything above the yield set 
down would be comparatively clear gain. '^ Had Mr. Lee 
got an average yield of twenty bushels, on which every 
farmer can count, in ordinary seasons, his net profit would 
have been at least double what it was. This table is given 
to show what may be expected in an unfavorable season. 

Two years later, J. Max Clark, of Greeley, printed in 
the "Tribune "of that town, what he called "A nice 
little story about myself, and my doings and beliefs in the 
business of farming in Colorado." After preliminary 
remarks that are more local than general in their nature, 
and need not be quoted here, he gives his 

FARM ACCOUNT FOR 1874. 

EXPENSES. 

One hand, 5 months @ $25 per month $125.00 

Board for same @ $15 per month 75.00 

Extra help Harvesting 50.00 

Extra help dio^ging Potatoes 100.00 

Wheat— 75 bushels for Seed and Family use 125.00 

Seed Potatoes— 200 bushels 200.00 

Hay and Corn for Team one year 150.00 

Interest on farm land, team and tools, $2,000 @ 18 Vo • • 360.00 

Wear and tear of Implements 25.00 

Total $1,210.00 



64 COLORADO AS AX AGRICULXrRAL STATE. 

RECEIPTS. 

1,130 bushels of Wheat @ $1.50 per bushel $1,695.00 

900 bushels of Potatoes @ $1.00 per bushel 900.00 

Total $2,595.00 

Net profit $1,385.00 

Net profit per acre ... 17.31 

Mr. Clark did not give the amount in wheat and pota- 
toes, so the two could be shown separate. It shows how 
mixed farming paid in 1874, even at one and one-half 
per cent, a month interest. 

FARM ACCOUNT FOR 1875. 



Labor for 6 months $210.00 

Extra help Harvesting 12.00 

Extra help digging Potatoes 125.00 

Extra help husking Com 50.00 

Incidental help 20.00 

Sixty-five bushels Seed Wheat 97.00 

200 bushels Potatoes 200.00 

Hay and Corn for Team one year 150.00 

Interest on Land, Team, and Tools 360.00 

Wearof Tools 25.00 

Total $1,249.00 

RECEIPTS. 

1,050 bushels of Wheat $1,575.00 

1,500 bushels of Potatoes 750.00 

600 bushels of Shelled Corn 360.00 

Total $2,685.00 

Net profit $1,436.00 

Net profit per acre 15.78 

It will be seen that Mr. Clark's farming got a little 
mixed, including corn among his crops. Bnt to make 
the result still better, he adds *' I should say that the 
past season, having bought more land, I cultivated ninety- 
one acres instead of eighty, for the year previous. In 
this account I have not included any returns from the 
garden, nor of between seven or eight tons of beets raised 



HOW FAE3IIJ^G li^ COLORADO PAYS. 65 

in the two years and fed to my cow. I have also omit- 
ted the item of taxes, because they no more than fairly 
offset the use of my house and garden. It will thus be 
seen that the gross receipts from my farm in two years, 
amounted to five thousand two hundred and eighty dol- 
lars, and afforded a clear return for one man's labor, 
over and above a liberal allowance for every item of ex- 
pense of one thousand four hundred and five dollars per 
annum." 

Is it any wonder that, when such an intelligent farmer 
is asked his opinion of Colorado as a farming country, 
he should give it in such words as these ? '^'I answer 
without hesitation that I consider it incomparably supe- 
rior to any of the Eastern States. But when I say this, 
I mean for the intelligent, systematic farmer, for I know 
of no country in the world offering fewer inducements 
for what I call numskull agriculturists, than this, and I 
like it all the better for that. Here only the wise suc- 
ceed, the fools all fail and go to the wall. He who, in 
his ignorance presumes to tackle our soil in the ordinary, 
unthinking, unskillful, bungling manner, is only answered 
by an empty jeer. The finest discernment, the closest 
observation and understanding, together with the most 
perfect manipulation, are required to obtain satisfactory 
results. Not every man who grows corn in Iowa and 
Nebraska for ten cents a bushel, can succeed in produc- 
ing wheat in Colorado for a dollar and a half a bushel, 
and all that class of men of migratory habits, emigrating 
from extreme Eastern or Southern States, who have 
rented land in every State from the original roost west- 
ward, and never succeeded in owning a foot of their own, 
may as well pass us by on the other side. This is no 
country for them. But to the farmer by profession, 
skilled in his art and calling, we can offer such induce- 
ments as can be offered by no other locality. Our soil, 
properly and judiciously worked, is rich in returns, and 



66 COLORADO AS AI^ AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

our peculiar position, the wide strip of arid plain be- 
tween Colorado and the fertile limits of Kansas and Ne- 
braska, the really insignificant portions of our land which 
cannot, by any system of cultivation, become available 
for agricultural purposes, and the resulting fact that the 
farming interest can never more than equal the demands 
of the other industries of the State, make the outlook for 
our farmers, in the immediate future and for all time, in 
every way desirable. " 

In 1879, George W. Buell, also a farmer of Grreeley, 
kept an account of the expense and profit of wheat cul- 
ture on a patch of sixty-five acres. He says, under date 
of February 12th, 1880, *^Much has been said concernmg 
the cost of raising crops under irrigation, and especially 
of wheat; and in order to satisfy myself upon this sub- 
ject, I opened an account with each of my crops grown 
last year, charging the crop for the actual labor put upon 
it, at a fair price, also the cost of seed. My account 
stands thus for my 

WHEAT FARM OF SIXTY-FIVE ACRES. 

Eighty bushels of seed wheat $ 80.00 

Plowing, 13i days, @ $4 per day 54.00 

Putting in 25 acres with cultivator 20.00 

Use of drill for 23 acres 2.30 

Vitrioling seed wheat 3.00 

2f days' drilling @ $4 11.00 

i day plowing ditches 2.00 

Irrigating 65 acres @ 25c. per acre 16.25 

Cutting and binding @ $2 per acre 130.00 

Six days' shocking @ $1.50 per day 9.00 

Seven days' stacking, 1 team, 2 men 38.50 

Threshing bill, including hands 68.88 

Cost of 1,096 bushels in bin $434.93 

Cost per acre $6.62 

Cost per bushel 0.40 

Yield per acre 16i bushels. 

Mr. Buell at the time of making this statement had 



HOW FAKMI>5-G i:^ COLORADO PATS. 



67 



not sold his crop, so he gave no figures as to profits. But 
presuming that he received two cents per pound, or one 
dollar and twenty cents per hushel, the net profit is 
shown to be seven hundred and eighty dollars, or twelve 
dollars per acre. 

We give another table, from which it would seem as 
though a fair case had been made out in favor of Col- 
orado farming. This table, covering a period of five 
years, from 1875 to 1879, is furnished by Mr. A. L. 
Emigh, of Fort Collins, Larimer County, one of the most 
intelligent and successful farmers in the State. 

FIVE TEARS OF WHEAT CULTURE. 



Vfinr ■^'^- bushels] Receipts Cost Profit 
1 per acre, per acre, 'per acre, per acre 



Highest 
price in 
the year. 



Lowest 
price. 



Average 
price. 



1875. 


24i 


$33.71 


$14.50 


1876. 


26 


36.40 


12.00 


1877. 


26 


33.24 


11.00 


1878. 


16i 


12.60 


9.00 


1879. 


26 


23.40 


9.40 



Averao^e 2B*/5bvL. 



$19.20 


$1.56 


$1.20 


$1.38 


24.40 


1.80 


1.50 


1.46 


21.1^4 


1.50 


1.00 


1.25 


3.60 


1.00 


.54 


.77 


14.40 


1.20 


.60 


.90 



$27.67 I $11.18 I $16.49 



$1.14 



The figures for the year 1878 differ so much from the 
others that the reader will naturally desire to know the 
reason why. Mr. Emigh accounts for it by saying that 
the wheat was injured by smut to such an extent that he 
deducted one-third of the actual yield on that account. 
Of his experience for the years 1880 and 1881, Mr. Emigh 
writes " the average of the last two years would be but 
little different in results. My expenses for the seven sea- 
sons just closed, have been carefully kept, and amount to 
three thousand three hundred and fifty dollars on three 
hundred acres in crops, three hundred and fifty dollars 
worth being permanent improvements. The crop con- 
sisted of two hundred acres in wheat, seventy acres in 
oats, twenty- five acres hay, four and one-half acres in 
corn, one-half acre in potatoes and garden stuff. The 
entire crop brought eight thousand dollars cash, leaving 



68 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

a profit of five thousand dollars. I estimate the profit 
on wheat this year to be nearly nineteen dollars per acre." 

Touching upon the difference of opinion existing 
among farmers concerning the cost and profit of farming 
in Colorado, he adds, ^^I think this difference is largely 
due to the kind of land in cultivation. The cost of rais- 
ing a crop of wheat is from ten to eleven dollars per 
acre, or fifty cents per bushel. I have raised some for as 
low as thirty cents, but more for seventy-five cents. I 
think farming should pay, taking an average of years, at 
least ten dollars per acre on most land, in a variety of crops. 
A good farmer, on fair land, can do much better than 
this, say from twelve dollars to fifteen dollars per acre." 

Evidently farming pays in Colorado. 

The opinion prevails throughout the Eastern States, 
and in some measure is believed as well in Colorado, that 
the State is not a corn country. The assertion is made, 
over and over again, that Colorado is not a corn country. 
True, to a certain extent. The altitude and the cool 
nights are against the culture of this grain. Yet it will 
surprise some to know that Colorado compares favorably 
with some of the boasted corn States of the East, as re- 
gards the profit, at least, of raising it. The figures to be 
given in this connection will prove it. 

In 1873, Mr. William Lee, of Clear Creek Valley (whose 
experience in wheat culture that year has already been giv- 
en), kept an account of the expense attending the growing 
of eight acres of corn, which showed the following result: 

EXPENSES. 

Five days plowing, @ $4 dollars per day $20.00 

Planting 6.00 

Eighty-five pounds of seed @ 5 cts 4.25 

Marking both ways 4.00 

Working both ways in May and June 23.00 

Hand weeding 7.50 

Working li days with corn plow 6.00 

Makini; irrigating furrows 2.50 

Irrigating cost @ $3 per acre 16.00 

Total .$89.25 



HOTV FARMING IN COLORADO PAYS. 69 

RECEIPTS. 

184 bushels of corn, netting $237.00 

Yield per acre 23 bushels. 

Cost of cultivation, pei- acre §11.15 

Profit on eight acres $147.75 

Profit per acre §18.47 

In the above there is no charge for gathering the corn. 
This is offset by Mr. Lee by the value of the fodder, 
which is not taken into the account of receipts. This is 
a very good showing for corn in Colorado in a year when 
all crops were below the average. 

Six years later a farmer in Greeley gives his little corn 
story of the year as follows: — 

EXPENSE. 

Six days plowing @ §4 $24.00 

One and a half day's working @ $3.50 3.75 ' " 

Three days planting @ $1.50 4.50 

Seed corn 1.00 

One day dragging 4.00 

Five days with cultivator @ $4 20.00 

Four days cutting furrows 6.00 

Five days irrigating @ $1.50 7.50 

Ten days cutting fodder @ 1.50 15.00 

Twenty-five days husking @ $1.50 37.50 

One day hauling fodder 5.00 

Total $128 . 25 

RECEIPTS. 

600 bushels of corn @ 60 cts $360.00 

5 loads of fodder @ $10 50.00 

Total $410.00 

Yield per acre 19 bushels. 

Cost of cultivation peracre $ 6.75 

Profit on 19 acres 281 .75 

Profit per acre 14.82 

Corn, it will be seen, was cheap in the Greeley market 
in the year 1879. The difference between the ruling 
price of 1873 and 1879 is very remarkable. But the times 
were changing. Big prices for produce as well as big 
outlay for labor were among the things of the past. Still 



70 COLORADO AS AIT AGRICULTUKAL STATE. 

the corn-grower was well pleased with the result. The 
jjroof was clear that corn could be grown in Colorado. 

The next year a farmer in Jefferson County planted 
one hundred acres. Here is his story from his book of 
accounts: — 

EXPENSE. 

Interest on 100 acres $250.00 

Interest on team and tools 80.00 

Two men's work for 9 months 450.00 

One extra team for plowing 25.00 

Feed for teams 135.00 

Feed for men 200.00 

Seed 25 .00 

Extra expenses 25.00 

$1,180.00 



KECEIPTS. 

2,500 bushels @ $1 $2,500.00 

Com fodder 200.00 

Total $2,700.00 

Yield per acre 25 bushels. 

Cost of cultivation per acre $11.80 

Profit on 100 acres 1,520.00 

Profit per acre 15.20 



These three instances are cited, covering a period of 
seven years, to prove that Colorado, after all, is a pretty 
good country for corn. It will pay farmers to disabuse 
themselves of the notion they have that there is no money 
in the crop, and give more attention to it in the future. 
The fact that hundreds of thousands of dollars go out of 
the State every year to benefit the corn growers of Illi- 
nois, Kansas, Indiana, and other States, should waken 
them up to their best interests. Colorado may not be 
able to lead in the average of corn per acre, as she does in 
wheat, where she stood in 1879 in the front rank with her 
twenty- three and one-tenth bushels per acre, while In- 
diana stood next best, showing twenty and three-tenths 



HOW FARMIXG I>^ COLORADO PAYS. 71 

bushels, and Illinois eighteen and seven-tenths bushels. 
Still an average yield of twenty -four bushels is not bad. 
It is far above that of every Southern State, and within 
nine bushels of the average yield in Indiana, Kansas, and 
New York. 

Two years ago the publishers of a western journal 
offered certain cash prizes for experimental acres in the 
culture of corn. In looking over the reports upon the 
two-acre tracts that carried off first and second premium, 
and getting at the net profit, there is but little to boast 
of over the profits of corn raising in Colorado with com- 
mon field culture. The value of the corn taking first 
premium was fifty- three dollars and ninety cents. The 
cost of cultivation, thirty-four dollars. Leaving a net 
profit of only nineteen dollars and ninety cents. The 
second premium acre gave a net profit of only seventeen 
dollars and seventy-five cents. In the one case the 
corn was Blount's Prolific; in the other, Chester County 
Mammoth. In both instances the soil was heavily 
fertilized, and close, frequent cultivation was prac- 
tised. If the interest on the land or its rental value 
had been added to the expense, a reduction of from 
three dollars to five dollars would have occurred, putting 
the profit — even on a basis cf a yield of over one hun- 
dred bushels — below that realized in Colorado. As the 
average yield in Indiana, as already stated, is but thirty- 
three bushels — if it pays to raise corn there at thirty- 
five cents per bushel, it surely will do so to raise it at one 
dollar per bushel in Colorado. 

Oats, as a staple, is a crop too much neglected in the 
State. It is not clear why this is so, for the culture is 
no more expensive, the yield is abundant, and the price 
obtained excellent, ruling the last season at two dollars 
and ten cents per one hundred pounds. Mr. George W. 
Buell, of Greeley, gives his account of the ex2)ense of 
raising six and a half acres of oats, as follows: 



72 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

EXPENSE. 

Plowino^, 2i days @ $4.00 $ 9.00 

475 lbs. seed @ $1.70 per hundred 8.31 

Use of drill 65 

One day drilling '. 4.00 

Irrigating^ 3.00 

Cutting and binding @ $2.00 per acre 13.00 

Shocking 1.00 

Stacking 5.50 

Threshing bill, including hands 11.91 

Sacks 6.00 

Hauling two loads to market 3.00 

Total $65.37 

RECEIPTS. 

6.353 lbs. @ $1.70 per 100 lbs $108.00 

1,880 lbs. retained for seed 37.60 

Total $145.60 

Yield per acre 1,266 lbs. 

Cost of cultivation per acre $10.00 

Profit on 6k acres 80.23 

Profit per acre 12.34 

This is not a bad showing, and should incite to a greater 
breadth of seeding to such a sure and profitable crop. 

Having shown how farming pays in Colorado, as far as 
the cereals are concerned, it may not be without interest 
to give some figures in reference to the potato and its 
culture, showing what money there is in this article of 
general consumption, of which the State does not grow 
one-fifth part of the demand for home use. It would 
seem as though only certain strips of country are adapted 
to the successful growth of the potato. In San Luis 
Park they never fail. On the Divide, a crop is generally 
certain. In the foot-hills, they are counted on as sure. 
But in most of the valleys they fail, year after year. In 
the Cache-la-Poudre Valley, this does not hold good. 
The Greeley potato is a synonym for excellence of quality 
and size. Experiments are being made at the Agricul- 
tural College to discover, if possible, the cause of failure 
in this important crop, but as yet nothing of practical 
benefit has resulted therefrom. 



HOW FARMIKG IN^ COLORADO PAYS. 73 

The following is an exact account of the expenses and 
receipts attending a crop of forty acres, raised on up- 
land soil, just north of the town of Greeley. It is as 
accurate as figures can make it: 

EXPENSE. 

300 bushels of seed @ 30 cents S 90.00 

Nine days' plowing;, 4 horses, 1 man, $6.00 per day 54.00 

Seven days' planting, 2 horses and 2 men @ $6.00 per day 42.00 
Two days' harrowing, 4 horses, 1 man @ $6,00 per day. . 12.00 
Twenty days' cultivating, 3 horses, 1 man @ $4.50 per 

day 90.00 

Sixteen days' irrigating, 1 man @ $1.25 per day 20.00 

150 days' digging, at $1.37i per day 205.50 

Hauling to market, 80 loads @ $1.50 120.00 

Cost of sacks 153.45 

Interest on land and water, $1,000 @ 12 per cent 120.00 

Interest on teams and tools 50.00 

Total $956.95 

KECEIPTS. 

By sales made $2,985.31 

By 4C0 bushels on hand, at 90 cents 360.00 

Total $3,345.31 

Balance in clear profit $2,388.36 

The above is an extraordinary yield, and is not to be 
accepted as occurring every year. Another instance may 
be cited, occurring last year. The figures are given by 
Mr. Geo. W. Buell, whose accounts of wheat and potato 
raising have already been given. He is a gentleman of 
unimpeachable veracity, and his statements can be ac- 
cepted as accurate: 

EXPENSE. 

Six days' plowing @ $1.00 per day $ 24.00 

Three and a half days' planting @ $5.50 per day 19.25 

One hundred bushels of seed @ 30 cents 30.00 

Five days cutting seed @ $1.50 7.50 

Five days cultivating @ $3.00 15.00 

Six days cutting weeds with hoe @ $1.50 9.00 

Five days irrigating @ $1.50 7.50 

Eighty days digging @ $1.50 120.00 

Forty loads, hauling, @ $1.50 60.00 

Sacks and twine 110.00 

Total $402.25 

4 



74 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

RECEIPTS. 

2,456 bushels @ 70 @ 75 cents $1,766.16 

250 bushels in store, valued @ $1.00 250.00 

Total «2,016.16 

Cost of cultivation per acre $20.11 

Profit per acre 80.69 

In the line of general garden stuff, only one case will 
be cited, this chapter being longer than was intended; 
but the facts crowd in upon the author, and the figures 
are so favorable that the question of profit seems settled. 

The '^^ Times," published at Buena Vista, in Chaffee 
County, gives some interesting facts connected with the 
culture of ten acres of ground near that flourishing lit- 
tle town, that go to prove how prolific the soil of Colo- 
rado is for root culture. 

On ten acres of ground, Mr. George Leonhardy har- 
vested, in the season of 1881, eighty-seven thousand six 
hundred and forty pounds of potatoes, for which he ob- 
tained three cents a pound. On two acres he raised 
thirty-two thousand pounds of ruta bagas, worth six 
hundred and forty dollars. On half an acre of ground 
he raised carrots, beets, parsnips, etc., valued at two 
hundred dollars. 

With these statements, the case is submitted to the 
general court of the people, as having been proven that 
Farming pays in Colorado. 



CHAPTER VII. 



CACHE-LA-POUDRE VALLEY. 

The stream above named is the most northernly in the 
State, and one of the principal feeders of the South 
Platte River, It is taken, therefore, as the starting point 
for a descriptive account of the various farming sections 
of the State. There is a fork called the North Fork, 
emptying into the main stream above Fort Collins. The 
waters of this branch, as yet, are utilized only when they 
reach the channel of the main stream; but there is a fine 
breadth of agricultural land lying north of the town men- 
tioned, and stretching from this fork of the Poudre east- 
ward to Box Elder creek and beyond, reaching to the 
line of the Denver Pacific branch of the Kansas Pacific 
railway. The supply of water from this fork is not equal 
to the irrigation of any very great part of this land; but 
a system of reservoirs, connected with a canal, is in con- 
templation; when built, some very desirable railroad and 
Government land will be brought under cultivation; 
the former belonging to the Denver Pacific and the 
Union Pacific railway companies. The Colorado Central 
branch of the latter railway runs through a portion of 
this tract, so that communication with the Cheyenne (on 
the Union Pacific) market on the north and Denver on 
the south, is direct. It is claimed that over one hun- 
dred thousand acres can be covered and watered by such 
a canal, when constructed, but this estimate is too large. 
Thirty thousand acres, perhaps, can be utilized from what 
is now but a cattle range and turned to agricultural uses. 

From La Porte to its junction with the South Platte, 
(75) 



76 COLORADO AS AN" AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

thirty miles below, the Poudre Valley is one vast net- 
work of irrigating canals, mainly taken out upon the 
north side of the stream. It was in this valley, in 1871, 
that the completion of an irrigating canal of the Gree- 
ley Colony, and its successful working, gave the first 
impetus to farming in Colorado, and demonstrated the 
value of the valley lands, opening up the vast pos- 
sibilities of a country hitherto supposed to be destitute 
of one of tlie most important industries of a State. 
Before it was built, a few small ditches skirted the lower 
edges of the bluffs, and watered the hay-lands of the first 
bottom, as the lands adjoining the stream are called. 
During the summer season the river ran bank full, and 
filled these ditches without the requirement of dams or 
any of the methods now employed in connection with 
larger artificial water courses. 

It is found, now, that so many large canals have been 
built, drawing such an immense volume of water from the 
stream, that these small ditches are comparatively w^orth- 
less for practical purposes, and it is one of the many 
questions connected with irrigation, yet to be settled 
by the courts, as to the right of large corporations to 
deprive the many owners of small ditches of the equities 
they possessed in the flow of water at the time they con- 
structed their ditches. 

Nearly a score of large canals, varying in length from 
ten to thirty miles, utilize the water from this stream, 
and others are in course of construction. These canals 
cover over one hundred and fifty thousand acres of arable 
land, while those now building will add perhaps seventy- 
five thousand more. This amount of land is not all in 
cultivation, or likely to be. During the season of 1881 
not more than thirty thousand acres were under plow. 

In 1871 the Greeley canal was built, covering some 
twenty-five thousand acres, stretching from its head, 
about twelve miles WTst of the town, to a point east of 



CACHE-LA-POUDRE VALLEY. 77 

the Denver Pacific railway, a length of twenty-seven 
miles for the canal proper, with innumerable laterals 
traversing the breadth of land between it and the stream, 
a varying width from two to four miles. The canal is 
thirty feet wide, four and a-half feet deep, with a sec- 
tional area of one hundred and three feet, running at 
a velocity of a little over four feet per second, and de- 
livering five hundred and eighty-five cubic feet of water 
per second. The land under this canal is enclosed in 
a common fence, protected by an Act of the State Leg- 
islature, cared for by a tax on all the land protected by 
it. The canal itself, built originally by the Union Col- 
ony founded by Meeker, Greeley, and others, in 1870, 
is now owned by the farmers themselves. A fixed num- 
ber of water rights have been issued, and these are sub- 
ject to assessment for superintendence and repairs, an- 
nually amounting to sixteen dollars per water right for 
eighty acres, or twenty cents per acre. For this, forty 
inches of running water, under a fixed pressure, are given 
each year. The canal is considered to be one of the 
best constructed in the State, having been built under 
the direction of the ablest Civil Engineer residing in 
Colorado, Mr. E. S. Nettleton, whose name is thus in- 
delibly identified with the development of the agricul- 
tural resources of the State. 

A small canal, taken out of the south side of the 
stream, about four miles west of the town of Greeley, 
waters the garden lands about the town and makes per- 
haps three thousand acres tillable. The waters flow 
through the streets of Greeley, furnishing the inhabitants 
with water for household purposes as well as for the 
irrigation of trees that line each street, and the flowers 
that bloom so profusely about the houses. Greeley has 
been termed the Garden Town of Colorado because of 
the .multitude of gardens within its limits, and the 
Forest City on account of the trees that abound in it. 



78 COLORADO AS AN^ AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

Either name is appropriate, but it will live in history as 
an enduring memento of the two men who conceived 
and fostered it — Horace Greeley and ISlathan 0. Meeker. 

Half-way between Greeley and Fort Collins — distant 
twenty-five miles — is the dividing line between Weld 
and Larimer counties. At this point there is a settle- 
ment and post-office known as Wheatlands. After pass- 
ing the colony fence the lands become tributary to Fort 
Collins, the county seat of Larimer county. It is notice- 
able, here, that the lands on both sides of the stream are 
in cultivation, and this point is the center of a large and 
steadily increasing farming population. The canals are 
large and numerous, carrying a volume of water that 
would lead one to suppose but little would be left in the 
stream to supply the canals below, watering the farming 
lands about Greeley, and no doubt some apprehension is 
already felt, on tJie part of the latter, about the future. 
The water question becomes a serious one when there is 
a short supply. 

Brief mention is made of some of the main canals in 
this neighborhood, as follows: 

The Lake Canal, projected in 1872, is twelve feet wide 
and fifteen miles long. Its first cost was seven thousand 
dollars. It covers eight thousand acres, of which three- 
fourths are in cultivation. Water rights under this canal 
give sixty-five inches of water for the season. Land un- 
der this canal — unimproved, but carrying the right to 
water — ranges from twenty dollars to thirty dollars per 
acre. 

The Box Elder Canal has one of the oldest charters in 
existence, dating back to 1863. It heads three miles 
above La Porte, is now seven miles in length, but is be- 
ing extended to cover several thousand acres of choice 
land lying along the creek that gives its name to the 
canal. 

The Cache-la-Poudre Canal, also on the north side of 



CACHL-LA-POUDRE VALLEY. 79 

the river, is eight miles long, covering four thousand 
acres, every foot of which is under cultivation. Here 
are some of the oldest and best farms in the valley. It 
was built in 1866, and does not extend far on the up- 
lands, but covers second bottom lands mainly. 

The Mercer Ditch, originally chartered in 1862, was 
re-chartered in 1872, and enlarged. It is now twelve feet 
wide and thirteen miles long. Ten thousand acres are 
under it, one half at present cropped. AVater rights 
give from sixty to eighty inches per season, with yearly 
taxation for superintendence and repairs. 

Canal Xumber Two, was projected by the Fort Collins 
Agricultural Colony in 1872, and built at an expense of 
fifteen thousand dollars. It is twelve feet wide and 
eleven miles long, covering in the neighborhood of ten 
thousand acres, three-fourths being yearly cropped. A 
large area is being watered for hay farms under this canal. 
The land is on the south side of the river. 

Pleasant Valley Canal was chartered three years ago. 
It heads in the mouth of the canon and runs to a point 
called Fossil Creek, a distance of sixteen miles. Eight 
thousand acres are fenced and cultivated. The water is 
only sold to those who hold stock in the company. 
Shares are valued at one hundred dollars each; as the 
canal runs four thousand inches of water, it would seem 
as though a share entitled the owner to only sixteen inches 
of water, and the owner of eighty acres would need to 
own at least four shares to furnish him with the amount 
of water he would need for his land. » 

The Larimer County Canal, on the south side, and the 
North Poudre Canal from the north fork of the river are 
in course of construction. The first is expected to water 
from ten to fifteen thousand acres; the last from fifty to 
one hundred thousand. 

Besides the foregoing, there are other corporate canals 
and numerous private canals, or ditches, as the smaller 



80 COLORADO AS AX AGKICULTURAL STATE. 

irrigating channels are termed, owned by individuals, 
and lying mainly in the bottoms. These were among 
the first constructed, before capital came and corpora- 
tions were created to control vast areas of land. 

The most important irrigation works of all in the 
Valley, still remain to be noticed. The Larimer and 
Weld County Canal, the property of the Colorado Mort- 
gage and Investment Company of London (Limited), an 
English corporation, is the second largest in the State. 
Two years ago it was 'distinctively ^'the grandest irrigat- 
ing enterprise of the age in the Eocky Mountains." It 
covers sixty thousand acres of very fertile soil, lying con- 
tiguous to three lines of railroads, reaching Cheyenne and 
the L^nion Pacific railway on the north, the Burling- 
ton and Missouri railway on the east, and the Kansas 
Pacific, the Denver and Eio Grande and the South Park 
railways on the south, thus giving immediate com- 
munication with all the markets of the State, and with 
Chicago, Kansas City, and Santa Fe. Over twenty 
thousand acres of this choice land have been secured 
by the company constructing the canal, and is being 
placed on the market for settlement upon easy terms, cov- 
ering a period of five years for both land and water, which 
last can be purchased in perpetuity at reasonable rates, en- 
suring a water right. These excellent farming lands lie 
along an undulating slope of country, stretching between 
Fort Collins and Greeley, a distance of twenty-five miles, 
on the upper side of the river, and above the lands cov- 
ered by the Lake Canal of Fort Collins and the Farm- 
ers' Canal of Greeley. Ample irrigating privileges are 
provided for — even in seasons that are likely to occur in 
Colorado, when a mild, open winter has prevented the 
usual amount of snow from falling upon the ranges, to 
be melted and flow down when the warm weather sets in 
— by a system of lakes or reservoirs upon the main line of 
the canal, where an abundant quantity of water can be 



CACHE-L.V-POUDKE VALLEY. 81 

held in reserve for the day when an imperative need for 
a supply from a source other than the stream itself is 
required. 

This canal is the largest in operation in Colorado. It 
will lose this distinctive title w^hen the High Line Irri- 
gating Canal of the Platte Land Co., taking water from 
the South Platte to irrigate the lands in the vicinity of 
Denver, is constructed. The dimensions are as follows: 
average width on the bottom from the head to the first 
large reservoir, distance fourteen miles, thirty feet; thence 
to Coal Creek, fourteen miles, twenty-five feet; thence to 
Lone Tree Valley, distant fifteen miles, twenty feet; from 
this point to the extreme end, the width is gradually de- 
creased to fifteen feet and less. The banks, which are 
five and a half feet high, are constructed so as to carry a 
volume of water five feet deep for the first fourteen miles, 
decreasing gradually to the end. The embankments on 
the lower side, where the canal crosses an incline, are so 
substantially constructed that they are as permanent and 
endurable as the natural, undisturbed earth. The reser- 
voirs are basins or depressions. It has been found that 
in similar lakes, when once filled with water, very little 
is lost during the winter, even when no inlet is allowed 
to remain open; therefore, when they are once filled^ the 
supi^ly is assured. The fact tha^- the current of the main 
canal passes directly through these reservoirs, thus chang- 
ing and keeping pure the main volume, will make of 
these lakes the finest fishing grounds imaginable. There 
are three of these reservoirs, containing respectively, one 
hundred, one hundred and twenty, and one hundred and 
eighty acres, ranging in depth from fifteen to twenty-five 
feet. 

The history of the settlement of Greeley, Evans, Long- 
mont. Fort Collins, and other towns, by a system of col- 
onization, has been written elsewhere in this volume. The 
question naturally arises, in this connection, can new 



82 COLORADO AS Ai^ AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

colonies be established, upon the same plan, with the 
same assurance of success? Given a fortunate selection 
of site, a company of intelligent farmers with means suffi- 
cient to construct an expensive canal, and to live com- 
fortably until a crop is raised, an affirmative answer can 
readily be given. Gradually the land changes from barren 
plain to cultivated fields. Comfortable homes, schools, 
churches, lyceums, newspapers, — indeed, all the auxiliar- 
ies of a settled and civilized community, take root, grow, 
and flourish. The disaffected and the indolent — for such 
exist in every community — shake the dust off their feet 
and depart; but the enterprising, the thrifty, the earnest, 
remain, and the valley begins to smile with bloom and 
verdure, opening up the bright possibilities of the future 
to those who had the patience to wait, the energy to work, 
and the will to conquer all the difficulties that might pre- 
sent themselves. 

Such has been the case in the past, such may be the 
case in the future. It is possible that no such colony as 
the Union Colony of Colorado, called together by the 
magic of the New York ^' Tribune " and its founder, 
can again be organized. But the ideas so successfully 
carried out by them have been, can be, and are being 
crystalized, as it were, through corporate companies, 
formed for the purpose of incurring the great ex- 
pense of constructing canals; making them a legitimate 
source of revenue, yet conferring an inestimable privilege 
upon those who have not the capital to put into the in- 
vestment. So it happens that, in these days, one man, or 
ten men, or an hundred men, can come to Colorado with 
their families and find the maximum of agricultural ad- 
vantages ready for them at a minimum average of ex- 
pense. As an illustration of what has been done and is 
being done by such corporate bodies to aid in extending 
the area of arable land in Colorado, and enable settlers 
to obtain, occupy, and eventually own farms, the action 



CACHE-LA-POUDRE VALLEY. 83 

of the projectors and owners of this great canal may be 
cited here. 

In order to give my readers a clear idea of the plan 
pursued, and to show how favorable it is to those who 
are not in a j^osition to pay down the price of a farm, let 
us assume that the intending settler contracts to become 
the purchaser of eighty acres of land, with water enough 
for irrigating purposes. Here is the story of the first 
and second year: 

Eighty acres of land, water for the same $1,800 

One fifth payment down beinj^ required amounts to. . $360 

Cost of home of two or three rooms 100 

$460 
His expenses for the first year may be about as follows: 

Mules or horses, harness and wagon $300 

Cow and poultry 45 

Seven months' feed for team 75 

Furniture, bedding, fuel, light 75 

Farm and garden implements 50 

Seed — wheat, oats, corn, and potatoes for 40 acres 100 

Cost of harvesting crop 75 

Livhig expenses, taxes, interest, incidentals 115 $835 

Total expenses for the first season $1,295 

From this must be deducted, for what may be held as 

realty or lands, building, stock, furniture, etc 800 

Leaving the actual outlay of expenditure $495 

The proceeds of the first season's crop, provided the season has 
been favorable, and the harvest a fair one, will be: 

Wheat, 25 acres, 15 bushels to the acre, 375@$1 $875 

Oats, 15 acres, 20 bushels to acre, 300(a50c 150 

Corn, 10 acres, 15 bushels to acre, 150(a60c 90 

Potatoes, 5 acres, 60 bushels to acre, 300@$1 30C 

Total $915 

The actual outlay for expenses being only four hundred 
and ninety-five dollars, a balance of four hundred and 
twenty dollars in favor of the first year is left, or one- 
half of the amount expended in land, water, buildings, 
and stock. 

The second year's exhibit will be still more favorable to 



84 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

the hopeful husbandman, inasmuch as the sod ground is 
now in better condition, and will yield at least one-fourth 
greater crops than the first year. At the end of the 
season, with sixty acres in crops, and including the pur- 
chase of a reaping machine, he will be a poor farmer who 
does not find a surplus, after paying all expenses, and 
making the second annual payment upon land and water, 
of at least five hundred dollars in his pocket, nearly 
enough to clear off the payments that cover three suc- 
ceeding years, and so have a deed for his farm, and a 
home henceforth for himself and family, from which he 
can make a handsome living. 

It will be seen from this, that any settler, coming to 
Colorado with one thousand dollars can easily, at the 
close of two favorable seasons, find himself the owner, in 
fee, of eighty acres of land and a good home, all made 
out of the soil. Those coming with one-half that amount 
TVx^uld find it more difficult to manage, yet need not be 
discouraged to make the attempt. They have these ad- 
vantages in their favor: a healthy climate, a fertile soil, 
a guarantee of water, a rapidly settling country, an as- 
sured market, and bright prospects for the future. The 
feeling of isolation which rests upon the lone home- 
steader in a new country with such depressing weight, 
does not rest upon him here. In this lies the great ad- 
vantage of settlement upon lands where capital has al- 
ready extended its beneficent influence, and paved the 
way for an immediate return to the farmer for what he 
invests. There is no delay. The time required to con- 
struct a small canal in some valley far away from railroad 
facilities, or social privileges, is saved him, while the cost, 
spread over five years, is easily borne. The first season, 
even, is not lost, provided he enters upon his land early 
enough to plow it and sow his seed. Ere six months 
have passed, his venture has returned to harbor, laden 
with a rich return. 



CACHE-LA-l'OUDEE YALLET. 85 

It will be seen, therefore, that there are certain ad- 
vantages accruing from this method of securing farms 
that are worthy of consideration by those who expect to 
build up a new home in a new land. Special facilities 
for transportation can be secured, and it can be so ar- 
ranged, sometimes, that families coming from one neigh- 
borhood can select lands lying contiguous, and the social 
intercourse so long and pleasantly maintained in the East, 
be continued in the West, under the broad, benignant 
shadows of the Rocky Mountains. 

The foregoing is presented, not for the purpose of in- 
ducing farmers to especially select this valley for a home, 
but simply to show what can be secured here, now that 
the era of colonization by cooperation has passed away, 
in Northern Colorado, by reason of the occupancy of all 
the available lands. The construction of this canal may 
be considered a work of wonderful enterprise, and a 
notable instance where the wealth of a few is turned into 
a channel that results in incalculable benefit to every one 
who settles upon such land, and to the State within 
whose borders each new comer is made welcome. 

About one thousand acres of the lands lying under 
this canal are in Larimer County, where the State Agri- 
cultural College is located. The remainder lies in Weld 
County, mainly tributary to Greeley, though a town 
named Eaton (in honor of Hon. B. H. Eaton, who held 
the contract for the construction of the canal), has been 
laid out on the line of the Denver Pacific railway, eight 
miles north of Greeley. The canal is now finished to 
Lone Tree Valley, a distance of about fifty miles. Al- 
ready a large number of farms have been opened up. 
Water rights are sold at one thousand dollars per eighty 
acres, entitling the holder to fifty-four inches of water. 

Wheat is a main crop in the Cache-la-Poudre Valley, 
though quite a large acreage is in hay and alfalfa. Po- 
tatoes are also made a specialty, particularly in the neigh- 



86 COLOEADO AS Ais^ AGRICULTUKAL STATE. 

borbood of Greeiey. About one-tbird of a million bush- 
els of Avheat — nearly one-quarter of tbe entire crop of the 
State — were raised in 1881. The average yield was 
twenty-five bushels to the acre, and the ruling price one 
dollar and twenty-five cents per bushel. The question 
whether it pays to raise wheat at this figure has been dis- 
cussed in a separate chapter. 

Heretofore the Valley of the Cache-la-Poudre has been 
without railroad facilities, save at the t^vo points, Fort 
Collins and Greeley, where branches of the Union Pacific 
system tap the valley in crossing. But a road is now in 
course of construction, following up the entire course of 
the Cache-la-Poudre Valley into North Park. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



BIG THOMPSON— LITTLE THOMPSON— ST. VRAIN. 

Three years ago, the tourist over the Colorado Central 
branch of the Union Pacific railway, traversing the place 
now occupied by the town of Loveland, m Larimer 
County, saw little else than an uncultivated plain. Now 
— as by the hand of magic — the scene has changed; a 
thriving town has been established, broad, fertile fields 
and pleasant looking homesteads dot the distance for 
miles around, and, save for a narrow strip of land far 
above any canal likely to be taken out of the stream, the 
entire district gives evidence of a prosperous and perma- 
nent agricultural section. 

The Valley of the Big Thompson is one of the prettiest 
in the State, as well as being one of the most fertile. Lentil 
lately only the bottom lands were in cultivation. The Big 
Thompson irrigating ditch, the Rist ditch and a number 
of other small irrigating channels were the only water 
courses supplying the lands bordering upon the stream. 
The Rist ditch is especially noticeable from the fact that 
it is about the largest ditch owned by one individual on 
the stream, or indeed in the State, covering a farm of 
nearly three thousand acres in extent, the ownership of 
which is centered in Mr. George Rist, whose farming op- 
erations have been, thus far, more extensive than those 
of any other one person in Colorado. He has had one 
thousand acres of wheat in at one time. 

The Big Thompson irrigating ditch was built in 1864, 
covering about one thousand five hundred acres of bottom 

m 



88 COLORADO AS A^ AGRICULTUEAL STATE. 

lands. It is six miles long, and some of the choicest hay 
lands of the valley lie under it. 

Later canal enterprises are putting under water all the 
lands upon the uplands on both sides of the stream. 
The Handy Canal is to cover twonty-five thousand acres; 
has a width of twelve feet, and a length of twenty miles. 
The water is to be rented at the rate of one dollar and 
a quarter per inch for the season. The Loudon Canal is 
an enterprise about completed, which is expected to water 
ten thousand acres. 

Another canal, to become an important factor in the 
development of the resources of this valley, is the Love- 
land and Greeley Irrigating Canal, coming out of the 
stream above Loveland and watering the lands lying on 
the northern slope of the valley to the amount of thirty 
thousand acres; then, crossing the Divide between the 
Big Thompson and the Cache-la-Poudre, running back 
m a westerly direction, covering at least ten thousand 
acres on the south side of the last-named stream. It is 
twenty feet wide on the bottom, and cost forty thousand 
dollars for a length of thirty-five miles. AYork was be- 
gun on this in 1881 and water ran in it during the spring 
of 1882. A large quantity of railroad land under this 
proposed canal has been secured by contract, and is to be 
sold to actual settlers upon payments covering a term of 
years. Water rights are sold at a fixed valuation. There 
is not likely to be any Government land open for settle- 
ment; as soon as a canal is surveyed, there are tliose 
waiting to enter claims upon every quarter section likely 
to be covered by it. While the agricultural development 
of the lands under it is the main object of the companv, 
it is intended to give a water supply to the towns of Gree- 
ley and Evans. Eeservoirs one hundred feet above the 
grade of either town can be formed and a permanent 
supply of water for household purposes thus secured. 

Ill addition to the foregoing canals, there are eight or 



BIG THOMPSOX — LITTLE THOMPSON — ST. YEAI:N". 89 

ten others, with a capacity for irrigating from three hun- 
dred to three thousand acres, so that m all, about one 
hundred thousand acres are under canals built or pro- 
jected. That there is a sufficiency of water in the Big 
Thompson for all this land is not certain, unless a system 
of reservoirs is established. There is no doubt that the 
water is all appropriated, and no more canals are likely to 
be built. Those who select this yalley for farms should 
examine the water supply carefully. But indeed this ad- 
vice applies everywhere in Colorado. Land is in plenty. 
The vv'ater is the mam j)oint for consideration. 

The Little Thompson is a branch of the main stream. 
Previous to the year 1879 this charming little valley had 
about a score of farmers holding small farms, with ditches 
of short length, suited to individual wants. About three 
thousand acres were thus held on fee, of which not over 
one- third was cropped. But the onward tread of the 
genius of agricultural development has reached even the 
borders of this pleasant valley, and though the land to be 
brought under cultivation is to be watered from the 
channel of the Big Thompson, it will no less cause pros- 
perity to rest upon the sunny southern slopes. Under 
the Handy Canal a large acreage has been fenced, and the 
next few years vvdll effect a wonderful change for the bet- 
ter in the neighborhood of Berthoud, vvdiich is the rail- 
road station on the Colorado Central branch of the Union 
Pacific, and the distributing point for the neighborhood. 

The St. Vrain Valley, until lately, has been set down 
as yielding a larger amount of grain than any valley in 
Colorado. But it must now yield the honor to its north- 
ern neighbor, the Cache-la-Poudre. Still, some fifty 
thousand acres of fenced farms, on which between two 
and three hundred farmers are living in neat and com- 
fortable homes, is the pride of Boulder County in par- 
ticular, and the State at large. The amount of water in 
the St. Vrain is less than in the Cache-la-Poudre, and a 



90 COLOEABO AS AN AGlllUCLTUIlAL STATE. 

largo number of the small ditclies used in former years, 
by those who resided upon the bottom lands, now get but 
little w^ater at a time when it is most needed. The limit 
of cultivable land in the yalley has been reached, and it 
is safe to say that no nev/ canals of any size will hereafter 
be constructed. Those already built, except in very 
favorable seasons, cannot supply the demand, and the 
new comer into this valley is cautioned to be sure that 
there is a certainty of a water supply for land he may 
purchase, before he closes the bargain for it. 

The four largest canals conveying water covering the 
northern slope of the valley, are the Highland, Supply, 
Plough and Eeady, and Oligarchy, but there are nearly a 
score of other incorporated canals, covering from six 
hundred to three thousand acres. The amount of water 
''claimed" in this valley amounts to seventy thousand 
inches, to water the same amount, in acres, of land; but 
the supply in the stream, during its season of greatest 
volume, is scarcely two-thirds of this amount. The 
Highland is the largest, flowing eleven thousand inches 
of water, and covering lands in \Yeld County as well as 
the county wherein it heads. The Highland Lake district 
— a few years ago wild prairie land — is now one of the 
best cultivated and best watered districts of the State. 
There are about four thousand acres of arable land in this 
vicinity, which can hardly be said to belong to the St. 
Vrain Valley, but which for convenience are grouped with it. 
The lake from which the district takes its name is an im- 
portant factor in its prosperity, as in dry seasons a large 
supply of water can be drawn from this convenient and 
useful reservoir, so wisely selected and utilized by 
Messrs. L. 0. Mead and 0. A. Pound, when, in the year 
1872, they became the first settlers upon what was lone 
prairie land, seven miles from the new colony town of 
Longmont. But of late years they have had an abundant 
reward for their foresight, their patience, and their faitli. 



BIG THOMPSOJs^— LITTLE THOMPSOl^ — ST. YEAII^. 91 

In the St. Yrain Valley there are more than twenty 
owners of farms over four hundred acres in extent, ahout 
twenty-five owning over three hundred acres, and seventy 
or eighty whose holdings run from one hundred to two 
hundred and forty. The remainder of the laud is held in 
eighty-acre tracts, but very few farms as small as forty 
acres in extent being found in the valley. In ordinary 
seasons the wheat crop of the valley district is three hun- 
dred thousand bushels; corn, fifty thousand; barley, ten 
thousand; while the hay crop reaches five thousand tons. 
Amber cane is a specialty. More attention has been paid 
to its cultivation here than elsewhere in the State. In 
amber cane the farmers of the future will find a profita- 
ble industry. 

It is doubtful if many more new farms can be opened 
here, but those that are taken can be cultivated to a 
greater extent, and by a more thorough system of farm- 
ing, be made to yield more valuable returns. The day 
for loose, heedless farming in Colorado has passed away. 
A higher cultivation, a closer attention to details, the 
preservation of material that heretofore has gone to 
waste, rotation of crops, manuring the soil — these are a 
few of the subjects that now press their importance upon 
the minds of farmers for early attention. 

Improved farms are held at high figures, especially in 
the immediate vicinity of Longmont. They command 
from thirty dollars to fifty dollars per acre, according to 
the character of the improvements. Therefore only 
farmers with means are advised to visit this section when 
looking for a home. There is not an acre of Government 
or railroad land to be obtained. Under some of the canals 
no water is supplied, except to those who hold stock in 
the company. The incorporated canals charge a rental 
of from one dollar to two dollars per acre each year. 

Left Hand Valley lies south of Longmont, about four 
miles distant, and is cultivated from the point where the 



92 COLORADO AS AI^^ AGRICULTURAL STAIE. 

stream, which is very small, issues from the canon, to 
where it empties into the St. Vrain. The soil is very 
fertile. Those who have settled here are as forehanded 
as any in the State, and their farms are models of thrift 
and thorough cultivation. Between thirty and forty 
farms are opened up, covering in the neighborhood of 
seven thousand acres of land, of which one-third, per- 
haps, is cropped to wheat, oats, corn, and potatoes. 
Considerable barley is grown, while vegetables in large 
quantities are raised, for which a market is found in the 
mining districts of Boulder County. 



CHAPTER IX. 



BOULDER AND CLEAR CREEK VALLEYS. 

Boulder Valley, including the section of the country 
watered by the South Boulder, is an extremely fertile 
agricultural district, containing, in addition to the arable 
lands, some of the finest hay meadows in the State. It 
is well settled, some of the bottom lands havmg been 
taken up at a very early period. The ^Yellman farm, 
about two miles from the town of Boulder, is said to be 
the oldest one in the State. The land, all the way 
down to where the stream empties into the St. Yrain, is 
fenced and farmed. During the year 1881 at least forty 
thousand acres were in crops, yielding in the neighborhood 
of sixty thousand bushels of wheat, in addition to a fair 
amount of corn, oats, and barley. 

Several canals, covering quite a large area of territory, 
are taken out of Boulder Creek. The Farmer's was one 
of the first, having been built in 1863. It heads half a 
mile inside the canon, is seven miles long, and waters 
from twelve to fifteen himdred acres of fine farming 
land. The company is a stock one, but it is all owned 
by those holding and cultivating land under it, and the 
water is distributed according to the number of shares 
held, of which there are only one hundred in all. The 
Beasly Canal is ten feet wide and twelve miles long, is 
taken out of the stream just east of the town of Boulder, 
and was built in 1875. It waters some of the land lying 
on the south side of the St. Vrain, as well as lands in 
Boulder Valley proper, carrying about two thousand five 
(93) 



94 COLORADO AS AIT AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

hundred inches of water. The Chambers Canal is about 
the same size as the Beasly, and waters nearly as many 
acres. In addition to the foregoing there are a number 
of small ditches, not incorporated, taken out in the ear- 
lier vears of settlement, and coverms^ from one to five 
hundred acres of choice lands, mainly in hay. 

In the upper and lower valleys there are at least fifteen 
thousand acres under fence. Some few farms are bemg 
opened at the extreme eastern end, but it may be said 
that new comers are not likely to find any lands open to 
settlement under Government regulations that are likely 
to be watered. Improved lands are held, if hay lands, 
at from thirty dollars to fifty dollars per acre, and up- 
land farms for from fifteen dollars to thirty dollars, ac- 
cording to the improvements. There are several large 
land holders, one at least, who counts his acres by the 
thousand, and is constantly adding to the area. His 
farming operations are extensive, cropping under his 
own management, and by lease to renters. 

The hay crop yields quite an income here. There are 
but few occupying the bottom lands who cut less than a 
hundred tons annually, and the amount, in the aggre- 
gate, is not far from ten thousand tons. 

Among the new settlements made in this valley, of 
late, I may mention a colony of Swedes, numbering, 
young and old, about five hundred persons, who are farm- 
ing lands lying north-east of the town of Boulder. These 
thrifty and energetic people are creating v/onderful 
changes over a large section of country, and their farms 
are steadily adding to the material wealth of the county 
they are located in. 

There are fewer canals taken out of Boulder Creek, 
considering its volume of water and the choice lands that 
lie on either side of the main stream and its south branch, 
than one would suppose, comparing them with the other 
streams to the north. As a consequence, a scarcity of 



BOULDER AKD CLEAR GREEK VALLEYS. 95 

water is something wholly unknown at present, and may 
never occur. The soil, however, is equal in fertility to 
any in the State, and capable of yielding the maximum 
of crops. 

On the South Boulder there are five thousand acres of 
fenced lands, divided among a score or so of farmers, the 
largest farm being six hundred acres in extent. Barley, 
potatoes, amber cane, wheat, corn, oats, and vegetables 
are raised, finding a ready market in the mountains near 
at hand. The hay crop is large. 

On Coal Creek some twenty farmers are settled, using 
water mainly taken out of the South Boulder. The 
Davidson Canal is one of the principal water courses, is 
twelve miles long, and carries two thousand inches of 
water. South Boulder and Rock Creek Canal covers 
quite a strip of country, though its capacity is small, car- 
rying not over two thousand inches of water. 

Clear Creek Valley is in Jefierson County. Quite a 
number of small canals are taken out of the stream, 
which at one season of its history might have justified 
the name it bears, but does so no longer, many stamp 
mills on its banks at the upper end using and fouling 
the water. 

On the north side the Arapahoe Canal covers fifteen 
thousand acres. The Church Canal, running above this, 
is sixteen miles long, and waters a like number of acres. 
The Eeno and Jackson Canal is eight miles long, is 
owned mainly by farmers using the water, and covers 
land in the neighborhood of Arvada, midway between 
Golden and Denver. 

On the south side, the Agricultural Canal runs on the 
Divide between Bear and Clear Creeks, covering both 
slopes, and watering at least fifteen thousand acres of 
choice land. Table Mountain Canal is one of the oldest 
in the State. The line of this canal runs east from Table 
Mountain to the county line, and then crossing it, covers 



9G COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

a large section of Arapahoe County. It is twenty-five 
miles long, and from eight to fifteen feet wide, and will 
water ten thousand acres of land, though only about 
five thousand inches are annually sold. The "inch" of 
this company is a generous one, giving more water than 
is measured out by other canal companies. 

In all these, except the one watering the Arvada dis- 
trict, the water is sold to those who use it at from one 
dollar and a half to two dollars per inch, it being under- 
stood that an inch, in ordinary seasons, is equal to the 
needs of an acre of land. 

Some of the oldest settled farms in Colorado are in 
this valley. The meadow lands yield abundantly of ex- 
cellent hay. Until the last year or two there was but 
little uncultivated land under the canals, but their ex- 
tension has opened to cultivation a large section of what 
w^as prairie land, and of but little value. 

Out of Bear Creek, an affluent of Clear Creek, two 
canals of considerable size are taken, one on each side. 
The Lewis and Arnett is a chartered company, covering 
bottom lands. A strip of country about seven miles 
long is under water. These are mainly hay lands. On 
the south side of the stream the> Harriman Canal runs 
into a large lake, and, issuing from it, Hows toward Lit- 
tleton, watering a fine area of land. From the mouth 
of the Platte Canon, running down on the west line of 
Jefferson County, there are several thousand acres of ag- 
ricultural land, lying north-west of Acequia, on the Den- 
ver and Rio Grande railway. 

These farming, meadow, and garden lands of Jefferson 
County are becoming very valuable on account of their 
vicinity to the Capital of the State. It is not likely that 
any more large canals will be taken out of Clear Creek, 
though those already constructed are capable of being 
enlarged and extended, and the Avater sup|)ly will war- 
rant it. The water is full of mineral sediment from be- 



BOULDER AKD CLEAR CREEK YALLEYS. 9? 

ing used by the many mills located along its banks in 
and above Golden. 

Alfalfa is raised to a large extent here, as well as in 
the neighborhood of Greeley. For many years Mr. L. 
K. Perrin, one of the first farmers in the State, has 




LUCERNE, OR ALFALFA {Meclicogo sativo), 

grown this valuable fodder to considerable profit. 
Others, stimulated by the success attending his efforts, 
have seeded from five to fifty acres. Mr. J. B. Walker, 
located three miles from Denver, has over one hundred 
5 



98 COLORADO AS AI^^ AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

acres. It may be said here, that, while at this time 
there are not over three thousand acres of alfalfa in the 
State, the time is not distant when it will be the main 
forage crop of the country. There is much that can be 
said in its favor, especially Avhere it can be grown near to 
large markets. There seems to be some question as to 
its being baled successfully for transportation; but even 
this difficulty, if indeed it exists, will no doubt be over- 
come. Its valuable forage qualities are unquestioned, 
while its market price equals that of the best hay. 

When once a field of this species of clover is well set it 
will annually yield from three to five tons of nutritious hay 
to the acre, on which both cattle and horses thrive well. 
For milch cows there is no hay its equal, and the dairy- 
men of Colorado are rapidly learning to look upon it as 
the best forage plant that can be raised. 



CHAPTER X. 

SOUTH PLATTE VALLEY. 

The valley of the South Platte, from where it issues 
from the canon to the point where it receives the waters 
of the Cache-la-Poudre, five miles below Evans, is 
settled by a thrifty and enterprising farming community, 
mainly occupying a strip of country two miles or so wide, 
on each side of the stream. 

In the early days of Colorado, only the lands bordering 
immediately on the bed of the streams were supposed to 
be valuable. These were eagerly taken up and occupied 
as ranches, and to secure the control of the range stretch- 
ing outward from the water, for cattle. This resulted in 
building a large number of small ditches, carrying a lim- 
ited supply of water, and capable of irrigating the lands 
designed for hay meadows along the bottoms of the val- 
ley, and for the cultivation of a few acres devoted to the 
cereals and to vegetables. As time passed on, and it 
began to be demonstrated that there was also a value to 
the uplands, for agricultural and other purposes, these 
lands, especially for miles west and north of Denver, 
were obtamed in one way and another by speculators, and 
held for an advance in prices. New and large canal pro- 
jects were broached and charters obtained, but in most 
cases no further steps were taken to utilize the large body 
of land lying idle in the immediate vicinity of Denver. 

As the colony system grew in favor, by the success of 
the one established at Greeley, several were projected, 
having the South Platte as the source of water supply. 
The towns of Platteville, Evans, Corona, and others, 
might be named. From these laudable enterprises came 
cooperative canals that have materially enlarged the 
amount of land lying under water, especially as the 
course of the river is followed down toward Greeley and 
(99) 



100 COLORADO AS Alf AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

Evans. A great deal of this land is still unproductive, 
and the supply of the cereals could be materially increased 
by the utilization of the lands that already lie under 
completed canals, and only need, perhaps, ne^v life in- 
fused into their management to make them imjDortant 
elements in the advancement of the agricultural resources 
of Colorado. Not one quarter of the arable land to 
which water can be applied in the valley of the South 
Platte has even had the sod turned upon it. Much of it, 
probably, is owned by parties who are not farmers, hold- 
ing it as a safe and sure-to-be profitable investment. 
But the retardation of an important industry thereby 
ensues, turning settlement into other channels where 
land is easier to be had and water fully as abundant. It 
is probable that during the season of 1881, not more than 
one hundred and twenty-five thousand bushels of wheat, 
forty thousand bushels of oats, fifty thousand bushels of 
corn, and a proportionate amount of other crops were 
raised in the region stretching from Platte Canon to Ev- 
ans, a distance of seventy-five miles. 

A very large and flourishing section of farming land 
lies in the immediate vicinity of Evans, founded by a 
St. Louis Western Colony in 1873. Four canals of large 
size water the country south and east of the town. The 
Colony Canal, as it is called, is twenty feet wide and 
fifteen miles long. The Independent Canal is fifteen 
feet wide and twelve miles long. The Union Canal is 
twenty feet wide and fifteen miles long. The Latham 
Canal is twelve feet wide and ten miles long. These 
canals cover an area of seventy-five thousand acres of the 
very best wheat lands, of which but a very small propor- 
tion is in cultivation, so that there are good opportuni- 
ties for new comers under these canals. A large amount 
of hay is cut between Platteville and Evans. Earm 
lands, unimproved, average fifteen dollars per acre; where 
there are improvements, from fifteen dollars to thirty- 



SOUTH PLATTE VALLEY. 101 

five dollars. Not over ten thousand acres are cultivated, 
so that there is a good field here in this well located sec- 
tion, for farmers to select lands from. The canals are 
substantial, the water tax reasonable, averaging one dol- 
lar per inch. 

From Greeley to Julesburgh, now known as Denver 
Junction, on the short line of the Union Pacific to Colo- 
rado, up to the spring of 1882, but little farming was 
carried on. Prime valley lands, abundance of water, ex- 
cellent natural hay meadows, stretch along a distance of 
two hundred miles, with but here and there an occupied 
ranche. Distance from market has been one objection to 
the settlement of these lands, but the fact that the State 
owns the larger part of the lands susceptible of irrigation 
has been the principal reason why they have lain idle. 

Now that a branch line of the Union Pacific railway 
enters the valley at the lower end and follows it up to 
Denver, and the State Land Board has wisely decided to 
sell part of the lands owned in this vicinity, there has 
been an mimediate and favorable change. During the. 
last few years, in anticipation of railway facilities, settle- 
ments have been made at favorable points. These have 
had a hard struggle for existence; some of them were en- 
tirely abandoned. But a brighter day is dawning for the 
lower Platte Valley, and it may be expected that in the 
course of a few years, the valley will be dotted with thriv- 
ing towns, and prosperous farms, under extensive canals, 
will be found along the line of the new road. Already 
three canal companies have been organized to construct 
canals. One on the north side of the Platte, in the vicinity 
of Fremont's Orchard, thirt^^-five miles east of Greeley, 
named the Weldon Valley Canal, is twenty miles long, 
with a width, for the first ten miles, of twenty-five feet, 
and will water at least fifteen thousand acres of land. 
Some of this land, to be thus opened for settlement, is 
State land, which can be leased or bought on favorable 



102 COLORADO AS AJT AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

terms. But little if any of it is open to homestead and 
preemption. 

Another, the Pawnee Canal, eighteen miles long, cov- 
ering State land mainly, is taken out of the Platte Eiver, 
near Buffalo, a station on the Union Pacific Short Line 
from Denver to Omaha. Its width for the first nine 
miles is thirty feet; after which it is reduced until the 
last few miles it is fifteen feet wide. It will water forty 
thousand acres of choice land, and reaches to the town of 
Sterling. The company constructing it have purchased 
State lands amounting to about twenty thousand acres; 
these will be partly cultivated by the stockholders, but 
some of the land will eventually be placed on the market. 
The lands under the canal still owned by the State can 
be leased on easy terms. 

The third canal is known as the Beaver, and waters 
land on the south side of the Platte. It heads in the 
vicinity of old Fort Morgan, and when completed will be 
fully forty miles long. The first eighteen miles the 
width is thirty-seven feet. At least fifty thousand acres 
will be covered by this canal, mainly State lands, of 
which one-half is owned by the company constructing 
the canal; the balance is held in reserve by the State, but 
can be leased. This fine body of land lies along the line 
of the Colorado Branch of the Burlington and Missouri 
railway, and will have two stations upon it; the first 
named Brush, eighty-eight miles from Denver; the other 
named Akron, one hundred and eleven miles from Den- 
ver. This is one of the points selected by the Artesian 
"Well Commission to locate an experimental well. The 
first twenty miles of this canal are completed; the 
balance will be finished in 1883. 

At Sterling, sixty miles east of Greeley, there is a set- 
tlement of a score or more of farmers who have a fine 
area of somewhat sandy land under cultivation. The 
ditch covers several thousand acres. At South Platte 



SOUTH PLATTE YALLEY. 103 

Station there is another settlement of about a score of 
farmers who have built a canal and will farm next year. 

As the road leaves Denver Junction on its way up the 
valley, there is a large quantity of railroad land soon to 
be placed in the market. Here too can be found public 
lands, and a colony organization could secure as fine a 
body of agricultural land as could be desired. This in- 
viting field will, no doubt, soon be occupied. Hundreds 
of farmers will seek homes in this section. 

Closely identified with the agricultural future of the 
South Platte Valley is the construction (now going on) 
of the Platte Land Company's Canal and branches, which 
are to water the immense area of half a million acres, at 
least, lying east and north of Denver. These lands, 
though in the immediate vicinity of Denver, with its 
large market and its railroad connections with every sec- 
tion of the State, have lain idle through all these years for 
want of irrigating facilities equal to the needs of so large 
an area. Millions of inches of water have run unappro- 
priated down the current of this river that might have 
been utilized, and made to conserve the interests of the 
farmers of the country at large. By a system of lakes 
and reservoirs, water flowing at seasons when not needed, 
could have been stored in fabulous quantities, and held 
for use when moisture was most needed for growing 
crops. 

But such an enterprise was one in which few, if any, 
individuals could engage, and not many corporations 
w^ould incline a favorable ear to. Schemes for running 
the water of this river over the arid plains along the line 
of the Kansas Pacific railway east of Denver, had been 
broached from time to time, and numerous examinations 
of the practicability and cost of carrying out such an en- 
terprise, have been made by eminent engineers from 
abroad as well as at home, and reported upon favorably. 
But, when the time came to seek for funds necessary to 



104 COLORADO AS AK AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

carry on such a work, there did not appear to be suffi- 
cient capital in Colorado willing to undertake it. 

Since the State has taken so marked a step toward a 
prosperous and permanent growth, and is likely to be- 
come one of the wealthiest States in the Union, it has 
attracted the attention of Eastern and of English capi- 
talists, who have been on the look out for the safe invest- 
ment of large sums of money. Witness the amount put 
into the construction of the Larimer and Weld County 
Canal, to which reference has been made, and which 
is creating homes for thousands of industrious farmers, 
and addmg millions to the taxable wealth of the State. 
So well satisfied are these gentlemen who have invested 
heavily, that this enterprise is likely to return good in- 
terest for the amount invested, that any new project is 
sure to receive favorable regard when presented for con- 
sideration. Hence, when this South Platte enterprise was 
once more urged upon capitalists who *' look a long way 
into the future " the possibility of success became surer. 

In one of his visits to Colorado, the eastern owner saw 
the necessity of arrangements with some parties to de- 
velop the lands belonging to the Denver Pacific and 
Union Pacific railways. His practical ownership of 
these lands made it an object for him to place them upon 
the market in such a condition, that a quarter section or 
more could be obtained by men who desired to till these 
acres, who would thereby build up the country through 
which his lines of railway passed. He presented the sub- 
ject to Mr. James Dnff, the General Manager of the 
Colorado Mortgage and Investment Company of London, 
whose office was at Denver, and after a careful review 
of the matter, an agreement was entered into by which 
a canal was to be constructed whose size would make it 
the largest in the country, and which would render valua- 
ble hundreds of thousands of acres of apparently arid 
lands. A company with ample capital was at once form- 



SOUTH PLATTE VALLEY. 105 

ed in London to carry out this agreement. The services 
of Mr. E. S. Nettleton, an engineer, well known in Colo- 
rado as having been connected with the construction of 
its largest irrigating canals, were secured. Mr. Nettleton 
adopted what has been called the High Line route as the 
one best calculated to secure good results, although his 
plans will require the expenditure of a greater amount of 
money than some of the routes recommended by other 
engineers would have done. But as this work is one which 
will probably remain in existence hundreds of years, and 
one on which the prosperity of thousands of farmers will 
ultimately depend, the matter of a few thousand dollars 
more or less was not deemed worthy of serious attention. 

Some account of this, the greatest irrigation work in 
Colorado, will be of interest, showing the magnitude of 
the system proposed, and the permanent character of its 
construction. It will be seen that it is being built *^not 
for a day, but for all time. " 

The South Platte River is tapped about one and a half 
miles inside of the entrance to Platte Canon, about 
twenty miles from Denver. From that point the water 
is carried through a tunnel, bored through the solid rock, 
into a flume, and thence into the principal channel. 

Reaching the plains the course of the stream is easterly 
and northerly. It crosses Plum Creek by a flume nine 
hundred feet in length, and a similar one will be re- 
quired when it crosses Cherry Creek. Wherever creeks 
are to be crossed there will be fluming of the most sub- 
stantial character. The distance to Cherry Creek is 
forty-four miles. The total length to Box Elder Creek 
is eighty miles. Laterals and branches of at least eighty 
miles more in length are to be built, so that the entire 
canal system will be one hundred and sixty miles long. 
At a certain point on the Divide between Cherry Creek 
and Sand Creek, the canal will bifurcate, a branch ex- 
tending in a northerly direction to water the lands be- 



106 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

longing to tlie company along the line of the Denver 
Pacific railway, while the main canal will follow the 
eastern line toward Box Elder on tlie Kansas Pacific 
road. The work of construction is well under way, and 
water ran to Cherry Creek during the season of 1882. 

The following facts, which I have collated regarding 
this Canal, are both trustworthy and interesting: 

The ditch, it is estimated, will cover — or rather in- 
clude within its line — an area of over eight hundred 
thousand acres. Its capacity for irrigation will not, to be- 
gin with, reach over two hundred thousand acres; that 
is as water can at present be used for that purpose in 
Colorado. This naturally leads to its being pointed out 
that water at present in Colorado is not very economically 
used for irrigating purposes. This is shown by a com- 
parison of acreage which can be irrigated by a certain 
body of water in this country, and the extent of land 
which this same body of water will irrigate in countries 
where the system of irrigation has been an established 
fact for years. It is also a well known fact that Sir Ar- 
thur Cotton, Director-General of Irrigation works in In- 
dia, to whom several features and points in connection 
with the building of irrigation works in Colorado were 
recently submitted, stated that the same quantity of 
water in India would irrigate an extent of land three or 
four times the extent at present irrigated by the same 
quantity in Colorado. The logical outcome of such a 
conclusion as this can alone be, that the longer a certain 
area of land is under the system of irrigation, the less 
quantity of water is required to do the irrigation. This 
being so, it is apparent that the longer irrigation is con- 
tinued the less the quantity of water required to ef- 
fect the same purpose, and consequently the greater the 
area which can be benefited by the irrigating ditch. 

The benefits to accrue from the completion and suc- 
cessful operation of a canal of so great magnitude, can 



SOUTH PLATTE VALLEY. 107 

hardly be estimated. Says a writer already quoted from : In 
the first place it is a well-known fact that Agriculture in 
Colorado is comparatively easy, provided the supply of 
water for irri^^ation purposes be secure and steady. The 
land is generally of a quite level or gently undulating 
character, and consequently the labor of irrigation is 
easy and the expense light. After once having water 
over the land in good shape, a pair of good horses and a 
plow can turn the virgin soil at the rate of about an acre 
a day. Agriculture in Colorado will always be profitable, 
and for various reasons. The extension and development 
of canals and the judicious cultivation of trees may have 
a beneficial effect upon the aridity of the atmosphere. 
The demand for home produce at the present moment is 
very considerable, and the prices to be obtained corres- 
pondingly high, and if the extraordinary development in 
the mining industry of the State continues, which there 
is every reason to believe it will, this large demand and 
high prices will follow as a necessary consequence. 

The cost of this Canal, the most extensive irrigating 
works in the State, will be nearly three million dollars. 
For the benefit of readers of this volume who may 
contemplate Colorado as a home, it may not be amiss 
to state that, reaching Denver, they will find at the 
headquarters of the Platte Land Company such infor- 
mation as they may desire. There can be no question 
as to the ultimate value of these lands. Specimens of the 
soil within the limits of this system of irrigation have 
been analyzed (see page 108), and the result proves 
that it is so rich in natural phosphates and in the fer- 
tilizing elements of decomposed plants, as to insure a 
continuous and abundant yield of wheat crops for an in- 
definite number of years. It is capable of producing all 
the cereals and vegetables indigenous to the Temperate 
Zone. The closeness of these lands to the principal 
market and shipping point in the State, gives them an 



108 



COLORADO AS AI^" AGRICULTURAL STATE. 



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SOUTH PLATTE VALLEY. 109 

additional value the moment the crop begins to ripen to 
the harvest. The owner of a quarter section ought in a 
few years to become independent, if he has in him any 
of the thrift that characterizes the industrious man. 

For those whose scanty means impel a careful consid- 
eration of location, easy terms of payment are provided, 
by which land and water can be secured upon annual 
payments. The needs of all classes are met, and the 
poor and rich alike can find homes here, if they will. 

It requires no great stretch of the imagination to look 
forward a few years and anticipate the panorama that will 
then stretch out over the hitherto arid wastes of Eastern 
Colorado. Wherever the limpid water is made to run, 
there will spring up a plant, a shrub, a tree; wherever 
the shining current flows, a field of grain will lift its 
emerald tassels to the sunlight, eventually to change into 
golden grain. Farms, fields, and gardens will flourish 
under the beneficent touch of the Spirit of the Stream. 
Fenced farms, smiling landscapes, and cosy homes w411 
spring up where of late sheep and cattle grazed in the 
continuous silence, and the busy hum of civilization 
will be heard in every direction. 

" I see them come from their homes afar 
Firm in the faith of the Western star 

That led them to these slopes. 
And the young and the old, the fair and the bold, 
And the feeble out of the old home-fold 

Are full of their new-born hopes. 

" Fair are the homes that round them rise 
And sweet and bright are the happy eyes 

That greet each coming day ; 
For the old fades out before the new 
And the roses grow Avhere the cactus grew 

On the prairie lands away. 

" And the years shall come and the years shall go, 
And the river's current still will flow 

By the city of the plain, 
And spires will point and towers will rise 
And the mill wheel whiz where the Indian's cries 

Will never be heard again." 



CHAPTER XL 



SOUTHERN COLORADO. 



The first stream of any size south of the Divide is the 
Fontaine-qui-Bouille. A canal from this, constructed 
in 1872, waters the garden and fruit lands about the 
City of Colorado Springs. Below this beautiful and 
thriving place lies a pleasant valley, almost in a state of 
neglect, running down to its junction with the Arkansas 
River, near Pueblo. It is generally supposed that there 
is a lack of water sufficient to convert these waste places 
into golden fields of grain; this is partly true. Five 
thousand acres, perhaps, could be brought under cutliva- 
tion in this charming valley, with a home market at Col- 
orado Springs or Pueblo, that would take all that could 
be raised from these now idle farms. A fair volume of 
water runs waste, that could be utilized and made the 
medium through which grain could ripen in scores of 
wheat fields. Not one-tenth part of the land is at pres- 
ent cropped. A few enterprising farmers could find 
pleasant homes here. This is the only stream of any ac- 
count in El Paso County, hence agriculture, thus far, 
has not engrossed the attention of its citizens. Late re- 
ports give about three hundred farms in the entire 
county. The sheep interest, however, is very large, and 
the eastern half of the county is dotted with ranges 
where sheep thrive. The hay crop of the county, in 
favorable seasons, reaches fully ten thousand tons; a 
large area of upland is cut over without being irrigated. 
Some attention is paid to alfalfa. 

In the Arkansas Valley, though vast tracts of fertile 
lands lie on either side of a river flowing an immense 
(110) 



SOUTHERlSr COLOEADO. Ill 

body of water, there is but little agricultural develop- 
ment. From Canon City east of Pueblo, a goodly part of 
the valley lands are cultivated, but eastward, the agri- 
culture of the valley is Id the future. In 1874 an exten- 
sive canal was built at a cost of over one hundred thou- 
sand dollars, to water the plains south and east of Pu- 
eblo, but it did not prove a success. Probably the na- 
ture of the soil had something to do with it. It was 
sandy and frequent wash-outs occurred, while the canal 
itself soon filled up with sand deposited by the flowing 
current. The greater length of the canal, at its lower 
end, has been abandoned, though under the first part of 
it a few farmers are settled, using the water at a fixed 
annual rental. 

Stock interests predominate in Pueblo County, as in- 
deed it will be found they do in all the counties and 
valleys of the southern part of the State. Still this is 
not because there are no lands suitable for firming oper- 
ations. The State assessment shows over twenty thou- 
sand acres of farming land proper, valued at nearly two 
hundred thousand dollars. Meadow lands are extensive 
and are exceedingly profitable. But the pasture lands in 
ownershiiJ are ten times the amount of farming and 
meadow lands combined. Pasture land has an assessed 
valuation of one dollar and a quarter per acre, meadow 
land seven dollars and a half, and farming land eight 
dollars and a half. With seventy thousand sheep, horses, 
and cattle, valued at four hundred and fifty thousand 
dollars, with the possibility that the actual value will 
reach one million dollars, it will be seen that the agri- 
cultural industries of the Arkansas Valley, in this 
county, are not very large. 

The production of grain is indeed small. Fifty thou- 
sand bushels of wheat is an outside limit for a district 
that could easily raise ten times that amount. It is said 
that the Arkansas Valley is generally too hot to raise 



112 COLORADO AS Aiq- AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

wheat with success. This may be true, but it is by no 
means certain, and should not be accepted as fact without 
further investigation. There is a lack of irrigating facil- 
ities on a large scale, though quite a number of small 
canals have been taken out. These, however, mainly 
water meadow lands and do not extend far out upon the 
uplands. In ordinary seasons a large amount of hay is 
cut in the valley. While there may be a question as to 
wheat, there can be none about corn, amber cane, and 
vegetables of all kinds. The valley, properly and syste- 
matically irrigated, can supply the entire State with syrup 
and sugar. The water is ample in volume, the valley 
lands warm and sunny, the soil a sandy loam eminently 
adapted to cane culture, and millions of gallons of syrup 
and pounds of sugar ought to enter into the product of 
the valley. But will they? Not as at present developed. 
A new class of settlers must come in, bringing with them 
advanced ideas of progress and expansion, in the line of 
agriculture, and a fixed purpose to succeed. There are 
grand opportunities for colonies in this part of Colo- 
rado. Towns could be founded and surrounded with 
thriving farming communities. The Atchison, Topeka 
and Santa Fe railway runs through the valley, giving a 
western home market and a south-westerly, going down 
to Santa Fe. 

After leaving Pueblo County, the course of the Arkan- 
sas is directly east through the entire length of Bent 
County; but as concerns this part of the valley it is some- 
thing like a Samson bound by the withes of a Delilah, 
the persuasive damsel coming, in this instance, in the 
shape of a cattle grower. As an old resident of the 
county, when questioned as to crops, expressively put it 
'^ You may set down its agricultural products in as many 
figures as you please, but use ciphers only." 

Yet this state of affairs is not brought about by the 
absence of water or of arable land. A noble river runs 



SOUTHERI^ COLORADO. 113 

unfettered by, with an abundant yolume of water en- 
tirely unappropriated, and so not hampered by any pri- 
ority of right as to the possession and use. Wide table 
lands — capable of producing corn, oats, amber cane, po- 
tatoes, and all kinds of vegetables — with gentle undula- 
tions slope up from each side of the river, at an altitude 
of about four thousand feet above the level of the sea, 
more promising than can be found in valleys having a 
higher altitude and a colder soil, such as prevails in 
Northern Colorado. 

When it is said that, at present, the Arkansas Valley 
through Bent County is given over to the stock growers, 
its situation is told in a sentence. Three or four men 
virtually own the county. One man on the Purgatoire, 
a tributary of the Arkansas, owns sixty-five miles of the 
river front; another, on the main stream, owns twenty- 
five thousand acres, stretching twenty miles on each side; 
others own strips of varying size, thus leaving little room 
for an interest that directly clashes with the possession 
of so much soil controlling the water volume, to expand 
and prosper. 

At present hay is the principal crop of the valley. 
From fifteen to twenty thousand tons are cut yearly. At 
Rocky Ford there is a canal of large dimensions, taken 
out of the south bank, which is well constructed and 
probably the best in the county. It is twelve feet wide, 
thirteen miles long, and covers over twelve thousand acres 
of land mainly given up to meadow, and all under fence. 
Beyond Rocky Ford, nothing of special agricultural in- 
terest is to be found until West Las Animas, the county 
town, is reached. Here there is a fine canal, lying idle 
on account of litigation about the choice farming lands 
under it. Years will elapse before the case is settled, so 
that the canal is useless, the lands lie idle; brown and 
barren prairie land that might be green and gold in the 
sunlight if open to settlement. 



114 COLORADO AS AN^ AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

Potatoes seem to thrive well in this section, and potato 
ground, wherever found, is very valuable. There are 
some locations, back from the river front, where colonies 
could be settled to great advantage, and canals con- 
structed to water large bodies of choice land. Many of 
these sections are open to public entry. The railroad 
facilities are good, so that stations could be established, 
and communication had direct with Eastern and West- 
ern markets. 

The weather record at this comparatively low altitude 
(compared with the farming sections of Northern Col- 
orado) is of some interest, and the following memoranda, 
by a careful recorder, are given as reliable. 

MEMORANDA. 

1875. 

Snoiu /S/orms. —January 4th, 12th, 21st, 27th, 29th. 
February 23d, 24th. March 1st, 14th, 18th. April 7th, 
10th, 24th, 25th. September 21st. November 4th. 
Total, 16. 

Beloio Zero.— January 7th 2°, 8th 8°, 9th 18°, 10th 
4°, 11th 4°, 13th 28°, 14th 22°, 15th 4°, 16th 4°, 17th 
6°, 18th 6°, 22nd 8°. February 3d 4°. November 3d 
4°. Total, 14. 

1876. 

Snoiv Storms. — February 26th. March 10th, 11th, 
15th, 19th, 31st. April 12th. December 22nd, 23d, 
30th, 31st. Total, 11. 

Below Zero.— January 27th 2°. December 24th 28°, 
25th 8°, 29th 12°. Total, 4. 

1877. 

Snoiv Storms. — January 7th, 11th, 18th, 22nd. Feb- 
ruary 5th, 18th. March 1st, 9th, 23d, 26th. October 
15th. December 3d. Total, 12. 



SOUTHERN COLORADO. 115 

Beloiu Zero.— January 8th 6°, 23d 15°, 24th 4°. No- 
vember 29th 2°, 30th 4°. December 4th 4°, 5th 4°, 6th 
4°, 7th 2°. Total, 9. 

1878. 

Snow Storms. — January 12th. February 2nd. March 
8th, 28th, 29th. December 12th, 13th, 17th, 25th. 
Total, 9. 

Beloio Zero.— December 25th 3°, 26th 8°, 27th 3°, 
29th 6°. Total, 4. 

1879. 

Snow Storms, — January 7th, 28th. February 4th, 
15th, 17th. November 27th. December 4th, 17th, 
29th. Total, 9. 

Below Zero.— January 3d 4°, 6th 10°, 9th 10°, 11th 8°, 
16th 4°, 18th 4°. December 24th 12°, 25th 10°. To- 
tal, 8. 

. 1880. 

Snow Storms. — February 8th, 27th. March 12th, 
15th, 20th. April 7th. October 11th, 14th, 15th, 30th. 
November 4th, 11th, 15th, 16th, 20th. December 16th, 
19th, 28th.. Total, 18. 

Below Zero.— March 10th 5°. November 17th 1°, 
18th 12°, 20th 4°, 22nd 2°, 23d 2°, 25th 8°, 26th 8°, 
29th 4°. Total, 9. 

The frequent snow storms noticed in March give suf- 
ficient moisture for the germination of grain. They are 
seldom severe enough to do any injury. 

The Huerfano and Cucharas are the two principal 
streams coursing through the counties of the same name, 
and emptying into the Arkansas. The valley lands of 
each are fair and attractive, but are given up almost 
wholly to the occupation of Mexicans, whose little 
flocks of sheep may be found at intervals along the 
streams. Not over twenty-five thousand acres are re- 
turned by the County Assessors as farming land. A 



116 COLOKADO AS AIT AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

great deal of com is raised, more attention being given to 
its cultivation than to wheat. La Veta, Cucharas, and Wal- 
senburg. are the principal towns. The Denver and Kio 
Grande railway traverses each county from east to west, as 
well as from north to south, giving an outlet in every direc- 
tion to produce which could be raised in large quantities 
and of the finest quality, did but Yankee thrift or Western 
persistence pervade the attractive country lying so pleas- 
antly under the shadows of the Spanish Peaks. When 
the new civilization that is to replace the old, reaches 
these beautiful valleys, and the bright and sparkling 
water that flows down these streams, to mingle at last 
with the volume of the Arkansas, are utilized to their 
fullest extent, probably fifty thousand acres of fertile soil 
can be made to bring forth abundant returns to the for- 
tunate farmers who are yet to choose homes here. 

East of the towns of Trinidad and El Moro, the first 
on the line of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe, and 
the last one of the terminal points of the Denver and 
Rio Grande railway, is the Purgatoire Valley. Its head 
is in the mountain district west of Trinidad, and from its 
head to its confluence with the Arkansas, a length of 
seventy miles, it has a varied elevation, from six thousand 
nine hundred down to five thousand three hundred and 
ten feet. The valley, from its head to Trinidad, is all 
under cultivation, but almost entirely by Mexicans, who 
have a few acres of land, ranging from ten up to a hun- 
dred, on which they raise wheat principally. The average 
width of the valley, to this point, is not more than half a 
mile, and all the acequias, as the ditches are called, when 
we reach the section of country where the Mexican ele- 
ment predominates, are of small size, seldom watering 
more than three or four farms. This is owing to the 
rapid fall of the stream, as well as to the indisposition of 
these rude, uncultivated husbandmen to avail themselves 
of cooperation in the construction of larger canals. 



SOUTHERN COLORADO. 117 

Down the yalley, east from Trinidad, stretches a coun- 
try averaging a mile in width (and which, fifteen miles 
east of the town, extends two and three miles), of excel- 
lent soil, well adapted to grain culture, more or less oc- 
cupied by American farmers, who, on one-quarter of the 
land tilled by Mexicans, and with the use of one-half the 
water, raise more wheat to the acre, and at less expense. 
Four canals, from two to eight feet wide, and four or five 
miles long, water a considerable area of land on the up- 
land proper, which is not yet under plow, but could be 
made to yield generously. 

Here is a strip of country, therefore, one hundred miles 
long, and averaging two miles in width, taking both sides 
of the stream, capable of cultivation, provided the water 
is sure. Over one hundred thousand acres of land is a 
vast scope of country, and it is doubtful if all of it could 
be watered from the stream. If economically used, it 
might be sufficient. The prospect for the future is good. 
There is no better portion of the State worthy of the 
close investigation of new comers. 

There are smaller valleys, in which streams that are 
somewhat unreliable in their volume of water, flow as 
tributaries into the Purgatoire. They are the Apishpa, 
fifty miles long; the San Francisco, twenty-five miles 
long, and the Trinchera, about fifteen miles in length. 
These valleys are narrow, and only in the upper part can 
farming be carried on, on account of the uncertainty of 
the water supply. The three valleys named produce one- 
fifth of the grain yield of the county. 

It is to be remembered that at least three-fourths of 
the farming produce is raised by Mexicans, who are three 
in number to one of the Americans. Their method of 
raising wheat is slovenly, and without signs of thrift, 
while the means employed to thresh, using goats and 
oxen for that purpose, are not conducive to a full crop, 
or a clean one. Yet despite these drawbacks. Las Ani- 



118 COLORADO AS AN^ AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

mas County, in which these valleys lie, shows commenda- 
ble progress in agriculture. The last year's record 
foots up one hundred thousand bushels of wheat, forty 
thousand bushels of potatoes, besides small quantities of 
garden stuff. 

Slowly but surely the Mexican element is being elimi- 
nated, and the more shiftless of this class pass to the 
South. A thrifty American element is taking their place, 
and it will not be many years before a remarkable im- 
provement will be observed in the valley and upland 
farms in this favored locality. 

In consequence of the careless method of threshing, 
the flour made here does not command a good price in 
the market, and the better class of people do not use it. 
It is consumed by Mexicans, or shipped South. The 
average yield is thirty bushels. But little corn is raised, 
the altitude being high, from five thousand to seven 
thousand feet above the sea level. It is said that 
the soil is not adapted to the culture of corn, but I am 
inclined to think that the season is too short for it. The 
crops generally are late, both in sowing and reaping, the 
one being in April and the other in September, while 
snow has been known to fall in June. 

Near the head of the Purgatoire lies the picturesque 
Stonewall Valley, which is inhabited solely by Americans. 
Here agriculture is carried on in a more varied form. 
Grains give place almost wholly to vegetables. The po- 
tato crop is large. From five to twenty acres are put in 
by each farmer. The quantity and quality of the yield 
cannot be surpassed in the State. The yield, with the 
most careless treatment, reaches fifteen thousand pounds 
to the acre, and in some instances exceeds it. 

At present the cattle and sheep interests in these val- 
leys are large. If the agricultural resources were devel- 
oped with as much vim and vigor as is displayed in these 
other pursuits, the county would take a vast stride in 



S0UTHER:N" COLORADO. 119 

advance of its present status. It is probable that as the 
country becomes more thickly populated, the great graz- 
ing ranges will become reduced in size, fenced farms will 
become more frequent, and the " Valley of the Spirits," 
as it is sometimes called, be gradually filled with thriving 
farms. Many farms, well tilled, are better for the State 
than a few cattle ranges, well filled. 



CHAPTER XII. 

SAN LUIS PARK. 

An important factor in the future of agricultural pro- 
gress in Colorado, is the park just named, lying between 
the Sangre de Christo range and the main system of the 
Rocky Mountains, and embracing in its borders a section 
of country from forty to seventy miles wide, and two 
hundred and fifty miles long. From a geological point 
of view, the park is one to which great interest attaches, 
as the opinion prevails that at one time it was an inland 
sea; the existence of which seems to be a recognized fact 
from numerous indubitable evidences. Henry T. Wil- 
liams, author of a Guide to Colorado, published a few 
years ago, said of it, that ^^ portions of the valley are 
very rich and arable, notably the minor valleys along the 
small streams, and along the foot of the mountains. The 
climate is mild, so that the temperature is higher than 
in other portions of the State, and, with the exception 
of corn, all the cereals and vegetables thrive and mature. 
But grazing is the principal industry, the valleys and 
surrounding slopes aifording rich pasturage." So, ten 
or twelve years ago, it was said of a large portion of 
Northern Colorado, that it was a good grazing country, 
which would be its principal industry. But a change 
has taken place. The large herds of cattle that once 
roamed at will, over the wide stretch of country lying 
north of the Cache-la-Poudre and the Platte Rivers, have 
been withdraAvn, mainly, to other fields, and the footsteps 
of the agriculturist fall where once only the hoof-prmts 
of cattle were seen. This change of affairs is due to the 
(120) 



SAI^ LUIS PAKK. 121 

rapid and continuous influx of people who have come to 
Colorado to found homes therein; thus, occupying the land 
and cultivating it, a higher civilization is reached, the State 
greatly benefited, and the future of its citizens guaran- 
teed, as far as the benefits to be derived from a prosper- 
ous state of society are concerned. 

And within the coming decade the same beneficial 
change will take place m Southern Colorado. Hereto- 
fore its agricultural resources have been overlooked, or 
vastly underestimated. Its producing capabilities are 
practically inexhaustible. As mining increases, agricul- 
ture will keep pace with it. The arable soil of this re- 
gion is capable of producing food for an immense popula- 
tion. At the present time the live stock and sheep in- 
terests are far m the ascendant, and this is one cause for 
the slow advance of farming south of the Divide. But 
what has proven to be inevitable in the North, will yet 
be found to be like the inexorable finger of fate in the 
South, and where now parks, valleys, and uplands are 
given up to sheep, gradually the thrifty farmer, with his 
houses, canals, bams, and fences, will encroach, and wav- 
ing fields of grain will be lifted to the sunlight and ripen 
to the abundant harvest. 

San Luis Park lies in the counties of Sagauche, Cos- 
tilla, Rio Grande, and Conejos. More than twenty 
streams run through it, capable of irrigating the greater 
portion of the land, while the Rio Grande del Norte runs 
through its entire length, with an inexhaustible supply 
of water. 

There are two hundred thousand acres of land bor- 
dering on the Rio Grande that are capable of irrigation, 
and would produce a most excellent quality of wheat 
and other grains in great abundance. The average yield 
per acre, taken from actual figures, kept by five different 
farmers in this county, leads to the inference that the 
yield, if anything, exceeds the average in the northern 
Q 



122 coLoaADo AS A:Nr agricultural state. 

part of the State. I give the statements as forwarded to 
me by the actual cultivators, having full confidence in 
their accuracy: 

Wheat. Oats. Potatoes, Barley. Hay. 

Piedra Creek 30 bush. 50 bush. 20,600 lbs. 60 bush. 1 ton 

Hall Creek 37 «' 63 " 50,000 " 60 " 3 " 

Rio Grande 40 " 63 " 31,000 " 55 " 1 " 

Embargo Creek 60 " 75 " 75^000 " 55 " 2 " 

Near Del Norte 25 " 40 " 15,000 " 30 " 2 " 

Taking the five together, and getting the average, the 
yield per acre is as follows: 

Wheat 38 bushels 

Oats 58 

Potatoes 32,200 lbs. 

Barley 48 bushels 

Hay 2 tons 

To the general reader and intending settler, facts like 
the foregoing go further towards conviction than the 
finest spun theories that could be advanced by the most 
ready reasoner. What five farmers can do, five thousand 
can accomplish. Where five combine to construct a small 
canal, fifty, or one hundred, by like combination of money 
and labor, can build one correspondingly large, and by 
an equitable distribution of water, each secure enough 
to cultivate one hundred and sixty acres of land. 

An intelligent journalist, Hon. J. S. Stanger, editor 
and publisher of the *^ Colorado Farmer," who attended 
a Farmer's Institute, held at Del Norte, under the aus- 
pices of the Agricultural College, during the winter 
of 1879-80, thus records his impressions of the Rio 
Grande Valley, from Alamosa to Del Norte: "In the 
great San Luis Valley lie over a million acres of as fine 
land as lies in this, or any other State. Flowing through 
it, about midway between two great ranges of mountains 
(the valley is surrounded by snow-clad spurs of the great 
Rocky Mountains), is the Rio Grande River — and well it 



SAI^ LUIS PARK. 123 

deserves its name. Into the park also flow the Alamosa 
and Conejos, from the south; the Sagauche and other 
small streams, from the north. Not less than half a mil- 
lion acres ean be irrigated by economy in the saving and 
distributing of these waters, and, as said before, no better 
land can be found anywhere. In fact, the soil appears to 
be better than the rich bottom lands on the Arkansas and 
South Platte rivers." And then he added : *^ the friends 
of the country are indeed surprised, to see farmer after 
farmer, who has plowed, sowed, and reaped, in the San 
Luis Valley, present for inspection by the convention the 
productions of farm, field, and garden; wheat as fine as 
any grown in the world; barley that can nowhere be ex- 
celled; oats weighing forty-five pounds to the bushel, and 
yielding enormously; timothy hay, growing as high as a 
man's head; evidence in plenty that all, save the tender- 
est vegetables, can be raised, while the small fruits suc- 
ceed as well as in the vicinity of Denver." 

Eio Grande County, lying on the western side of San 
Luis Park, is level on its eastern half, through which the 
Rio Grande courses its way, with an ample volume 
of water, capable of irrigating many thousands of acres 
of choice land on both sides of the stream. All the 
way up the valley, from Alamosa to Del Norte, the 
lands bordering on the river are fenced and cultivated, 
mainly for hay. These meadows have been carefully 
cared for, for years, until the most of them are in a high 
state of cultivation, yielding hay of good quality. 

Tliere are at present a variety of nationalities repre- 
sented in the various colony settlements in the neighbor- 
hood of Del Norte. On the north side of the town is a 
German settlement of about two hundred people. These 
originally came out as a colony organization, but this dis- 
tinctive feature of cooperation was soon lost. Most of its 
members, however, remained, and are occupying land in 
the immediate vicinity, under a canal four miles long. 



124 COLORADO AS AIT AGRICULTURAL STATK. 

In the patient, plodding way, for wliicli this race is fa- 
mous, they are gradually changing the face of the prairie, 
and now thriving farms meet the eyes of the traveller 
through their district. 

A few miles below them, on the same side of the river, 
is a French settlement, consisting of a score or more 
families. They are late comers, just beginning to 
farm, and probably are the nucleus which will attract 
many more from the same nation, in the near future. 
They seem to have no desire to mingle with their neigh- 
bors, keeping strictly to themselves. 

On the south side of the river, on a strip of country 
running from seven to fifteen miles below the toAvn of 
Del Norte, about two dozen Swedish families occupy the 
bottom lands, raising grain, hay, and potatoes. These 
settled here in 1875, and have become a prosperous com- 
munity. The canals watering the land are small in ex- 
tent, each apparently having one for his individual use. 

The Mexican element is considerable, being about one- 
fifth of the whole population of the county. These oc- 
cupy the valley lying west of and above Del Norte. They 
farm in the style of their forefathers. 

Of very large canals there are none, as yet. Two on 
the north side, as stated, cover an area not large in ex- 
tent. One on the south side, eight miles below Del 
Norte, is twelve miles long, and reaches to Piedra Pinta- 
da (Rock Creek) watering the hay meadows on the north 
side of that picturesque valley. The wheat crop, there- 
fore, is not large; thirty thousand bushels will cover the 
amount. Being raised mostly by Mexicans, it is not of 
the best quahty, and as there is but one mill in the 
county, there is not much inducement to put in a large 
acreage. Oats yield abundantly, and most of the farmers 
pay more attention to this grain than to wheat, on ac- 
count of a steady market in the mining camps near by. 
Potatoes are a staple crop, especially in the foot-hills be- 



SAN- LUIS PAEK. 125 

yond Del Norte, where the finest quality of tubers are an- 
nually grown. As high as nine hundred and thirty 
bushels have been obtained from one acre. The upper 
part of this valley, as in the Sagauche Valley lying to the 
north, seems to possess the soil peculiarly adapted to the 
growth of this tuber, and the two districts combined, 
could supply the entire State, if more attention was given 
to this crop. It is to be said to the shame of the farm- 
ers of Colorado, that California, Utah, and Iowa ship 
into the State two-thirds of the potatoes eaten there, 
w^ien there is within its borders such soil as the two 
valleys above named, giving so abundant a yield. 

Sagauche County has more acres in cultivation at pres- 
ent, than any of the other counties in South-western 
Colorado. In the early days of the San Juan excitement, 
when the mines of that wonderful silver- ribbed district 
were overflowing with hardy prospectors, the ring of 
whose picks could be heard in every gulch and on every 
mountain side, the product of her farms, gardens, and 
dairies, found a ready and a profitable market. For a 
period of time, the carbonate excitement at Leadville and 
kindred points, obscured San Juan; but the day has come 
again when the silence is broken, and the hum of mining 
development is once more heard. The demand for food 
for the multitude that is flocking thitherward, must be 
heeded, and Sagauche County, and more especially Sa- 
gauche Valley, is in a position to respond to the call. From 
her fertile soil, the tiller of the field will reap an abund- 
ant harvest and a gratifying financial return for his la- 
bors. The county has at least one hundred and fifty 
thousand acres of arable, pasture, and meadow lauds, di- 
vided up into twenty-five hundred farms, of varying size. 

The editor of the '^ Sagauche Chronicle," in enumera- 
ting the advantages possessed by his section of country, 
says of the agricultural resources: ''as the streams, of 
which there are about twenty-five in the county, nearly 



12G COLOKADO AS AN" AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

all run in channels higher than the land on either side 
of them, and none of them having high banks, it is an 
easy matter to conduct the water in ditches wherever de- 
sired. When once a farm has been properly laid out for 
irrigation, and the main and lateral ditches completed, 
crops can be irrigated with but trilling expense per acre, 
without any fears of drouth. The ability that a farmer 
has of giving his crop water whenever it needs it, and 
the increased yield resulting therefrom, is considered by 
those accustomed to irrigating, as more than a compensa- 
tion for the extra trouble and expense. The chmate of 
this section is adapted to the raising of all kinds of veg- 
etables and grains, except the later varieties of corn. 
Vegetables yield largely, grow to large size, and are of 
very fine quality. Wheat yields all the way from twenty- 
five to sixty bushels per acre, according to the quality of 
land and the attention it receives. The wheat raised 
here is pronounced by millers to be of better quality than 
any that is raised in the States, it often weighing sixty- 
four pounds to the bushel." 

The rivers in this county have one peculiarity; they 
have no visible outlet, presenting thereby a counterpart 
of the district about Salt Lake, in Utah, only what 
is there a great sheet of water, is here but a vast 
stretch of swampy land. The Sagauche River irrigates 
over ten thousand acres of bottom land in a charming 
valley, forty miles in length, and yet the word valley 
hardly applies to these lands, for the stream is an im- 
mense canal of Nature's own construction, running on 
high ground with the lands sloping from it on either 
side its entire length until it reaches a basin, as it were, 
in San Luis Park, where its volume overflows, spreads 
out, sinks, evaporates, goes — who knows where? The 
mystery of its disappearance remains unsolved. What 
is true of the Sagauche Eiver is also true of the San Luis, 
with its half dozen or more little tributaries. It flows 



SAN- LUIS PAEK. 127 

along, a natural canal, about twenty miles in length, af- 
fording its nourishing fluid to numerous farms on either 
bank. In these valleys no expensive canal system is re- 
quired, no following up the current for miles to get a 
head of water to distribute upon the adjoining territory; 
so that every farmer, almost, has his own canal, and the 
water division, to be adjudicated in this district, presents 
a phase thus far not witnessed elsewhere, in the number 
of claimants, the amount of inches claimed, and in the 
question of '' overflow," something unknown in northern 
irrigating districts. 

On the western side of the county, the Sagauche, La 
Garita, and Carnero, heading in the Sagauche range, 
flow into the park. On the east side, the San Luis, with 
its many tributaries, flows southward, meeting the waters 
of the other streams on the level of the San Luis lakes. 
About one-half of the area comprised in the county is ag- 
ricultural and grazing land. The altitude is from six 
thousand seven hundred and fifty to seven thousand five 
hundred feet above the level of the sea. Mountains on 
the east, west, and north, give an indescribable grandeur 
to the scen&ry; and the valley, mortised as it were in the 
midst of the vast mountain bulk, presents an extraordi- 
nary symmetry of configuration. 

On Sagauche Creek about seventy-five farms are loca- 
ted, ranging in area from forty to nine hundred and 
fifty acres. Two-thirds of the land is in hay, but cereals 
and potatoes are grown to some extent. Nearly ten 
thousand acres are irrigated each year, while it is claimed 
that twenty thousand inches of water flows in the stream. 

On La Garita Creek, four thousand six hundred acres 
are owned by twenty-five farmers. The water in this 
is " appropriated " to the amount of six thousand inches, 
and there is probably no surplus. No new settlements 
are likely to be made on this creek, the land bordering 
on either side being entirely taken up. But farms 



128 COLORADO AS A^ AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

here, as elsewhere, are always in the market for pur- 
chasers. On Carnero Creek, which is seventeen miles 
long, a number of Mexicans are farming. They own nearly 
two thousand five hundred acres, using seven hundred 
and fifty inches of water out of one thousand two hun- 
dred and seventy claimed. Here there is no surpkis 
water inviting settlement. San Luis Creek, heading in 
the Sangre de Christo range of mountains, has a length 
of thirty miles. Into it a dozen or more tiny creeks 
empty. There is one canal of size taken out of this 
stream, being six feet wide and seven miles long. On 
this creek and its tributaries, fifty-five farmers own six- 
teen thousand eight hundred acres, tlieir area in no sin- 
gle instance being smaller than a section of six hundred 
and forty acres, while three own over one thousand acres 
each, and one has three thousand seven hundred acres 
under fence as meadow and pasture land. About twelve 
thousand acres are irrigated, or receive the benefit of the 
'^overflow." Aside from these settled farms, the *^ Gil- 
pin Grant " lands are on the line of this stream and be- 
low it, in the south-eastern corner of the county, cover- 
ing ninety-nine thousand two hundred and ninety acres. 
On these lands the owner claims an overflow of four 
thousand inches of water. 

Of the products, hay takes the lead. From fifteen to 
twenty thousand tons are cut along the streams men- 
tioned. Oats is the principal grain grown. A large 
yield can always be counted on. The story is told of one 
acre from which one hundred and twenty-two bushels 
were thrashed; this acre must have been of extra size. 
But little wheat, as yet, is grown. One mill grinds 
slowly, grinding all that comes in. Potatoes, as before 
mentioned, thrive wonderfully in this soil. The altitude 
may just suit this coy tuber, whose coquettish nature is 
so puzzling to the farmers in the valleys of Northern Col- 
orado, and in all the valleys on the eastern slope of the 



SAN LUIS PARK. 129 

mountains. But here the Early Eose, the Chili, and the 
hundred cousins, named and unnamed, grow and yield 
abundantly, having not the fear of the Doryijliora before 
their eyes. Paris Green is an unknown element in the 
summer's calculation of the potato growers of Sagauche 
County. Not that the creature of stripes is not with 
them, but because it seems to prefer the juicy weeds of 
the field to the stalk of the potato, revelmg upon them 
while they let the emerald gonfalons of the underground 
pomme cle terre wave undisturbed in the balmy atmos- 
phere. Using the language of Judge W. B. Felton, at 
that time editor of the '' Sagauche Chronicle," it can be 
said " Standing, as it were, in the gateway to the im- 
mense bodies of mineral west of her, that promise so 
much for the future, it is not at all unreasonable to sup- 
pose that the agricultural prosperity of the past, will pale 
into insignificance in the era of grand prosperity that will 
dawn upon Sagauche County in the near future." 

Costilla County, lying directly south of Sagauche, with 
the Kio Grande as its western boundary, is coursed by 
the Trinchara, Culebra, and Costilla rivers. There are a 
few Americans in this county, but the greater part of the 
farming is carried on by Mexicans, who follow the meth- 
ods of their forefathers, as though they were like the laws 
of the Medes and Persians, and who stick to the primi- 
tive tools of ancient times with a tenacity worthy of a 
better cause. Wheat, oats, and corn are their main pro- 
ducts, a careless cultivation giving only a moderate yield. 
But the needs of the Mexican are few in number and 
easily met. A few sheep are more to them than a field 
of grain. A goodly number of Americans, however, are 
on the Trinchera, where there are splendid hay ranches, 
and as seasons roll by, no doubt this entire section will 
be reclaimed from Mexican domination and make for 
itself a good record on the page of agricultural history. 

Conejos County has in its eastern section the Eio 



130 COLOKADO AS AIT AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

Grande, La Jara, Conejos and Alamosa Rivers. The 
amount of land suited to agriculture is large, but it is to 
be said that cultivation as yet, is mainly done in the three 
last-named valleys. Around Alamosa there are extensive 
hay farms; especially is this so in a strip of country 
known as the Sink of the Alamosa, where there are 
some valuable hay meadows, yielding thousands of tons, 
one man alone running eighteen mowers on his own 
land and on lands belonging to his immediate neighbors. 

At Manassas, a few miles below Alamosa, on Conejos 
Creek, there is a large settlement of Mormons, and this 
county, in a very short time, is likely to be set apart to 
this sect. At present there are not more than six hun- 
dred people settled in Manassas and Ephraim, a town 
four miles distant from the first named. Since 1879 
some farming has been done; small canals have been con- 
structed, and evidence is ample that this peculiar sect 
have secured a permanent foothold in the State, and pro- 
pose to effect a wonderful change in the agricultural sta- 
tus of th^, county. It is currently reported that the 
Scandinavian emigration is to be turned in this direction, 
and hundred of families settled upon the farming lands. 

It is evident the Mormons are satisfied with the out- 
look, and they are not, as yet, looked upon with any dis- 
favor by the Americans who are in the county. The 
State has sold them large areas of lands, without looking 
into the effect their social peculiarities may have upon 
the State at large. But as this aspect of the subject 
does not come within the province of this volume to dis- 
cuss, I will not pursue it further. Looking at the pos- 
sibilities of the future, as far as agriculture is concerned, 
it would seem as though Conejos County will swiftly rise 
into prominence as a wheat-growing section of the State. 
Those at present in possession do not appear to be a very 
thrifty set; but if a foreign element, as vigorous as the 
Scandinavians, should be settled in large numbers upon 



SAI?- LUIS PAEK. 181 

broad tracts of land, the result cannot be but faYorable, 
as far as wheat culture is concerned. 

From Manassas to the Mountains, the Valley of the 
Conejos is thirty miles long. The volume of water 
equals that of the Cache-la-Poudre, and as there is an 
abundant area of land on the north side of the stream, 
reaching to La Jara Creek, over which water could be 
carried at a reasonable cost for canal construction, there 
would seem to be an opportunity for settlement of a 
large and flourishing colony here, unless debarred by the 
Mormons. It is believed that seventy-five thousand acres 
can be cultivated. The soil is a sandy loam, deep and 
strong. The altitude is seven thousand feet, therefore 
only the hardy grains and vegetables can be raised to per- 
fection; but wheat, oats, barley, and rye have an ample 
season in which to mature, and onions, potatoes, turnips, 
beets, and squash easily reach perfection. Wild clover 
grows in this valley and in those tributary to it. 

Of Costilla and Conejos Counties, it may be said that 
the main settlement, thus far, is by Mexicans, whose 
careless system of culture has been before commented 
upon. They have raised, in years past, considerable grain, 
which found a ready market in the San Juan country. 
Since the Denver and Eio Grande Eailway has traversed 
the region, there has been a considerable decrease in the 
volume of cereals. Joined to the natural indolence of 
this people, is an intense dislike to the rapid progress of 
civilization, and the approach of the railway — this sym- 
bol of the coming of a superior race — has led to the 
abandonment of hundreds of widely cultivated ranches. 
Freighting is now the main occupation of a majority of 
those who five years ago gave their entire attention to the 
cultivation of the soil. 

The outlook for the future would seem to be encourag- 
ing. The flow of water, especially in the Eio G-rande 
and the Conejos, is abundant, while the Culebra, La Jara, 



132 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

Trinchera, and a number of smaller streams, could readily 
be made available. The valleys are high and somewhat 
cool, more so than would be supposed from the line of 
latitude. If a colony like the one that settled Greeley 
could be organized and planted on the table land, between 
the Mormon settlement at Manassas, and the Toltec hills, 
its success, if rightly managed, would be marvellous. 
The advance of the railway to Durango and northward 
to Silverton, as well as southward across the border into 
New Mexico, and the certainty for a market for the 
cereals, hay, and vegetables, that could be raised, in the 
mining towns of the San Juan district, holds out a 
promise that was wanting when the Union Colony set- 
tled upon the banks of the Cache-la-Poudre. As re- 
gards the possibility of preempting or homesteading lands 
in these counties, the chances are not good. The great 
majority of acres of arable land is in the ownership of 
the State, under a Congressional Grant. But these can 
be leased or purchased upon easy terms. 

A few words about the State lands of Colorado will not 
be amiss at this time and in this connection. Strangers 
to the State, who chance to look at the map, and see vast 
tracts of level, or undulating land, throughout the entire 
eastern portion, naturally conclude that there must 
be large quantities of available agricultural land open for 
preemption and homesteads. But inquiry teaches them 
that these lands, although in composition they are very 
fertile, yet are almost barren on account of want of water, 
and occupation is precluded to the ordinary settler of 
western lands. These plains are only fit for the herds of 
cattle and sheep 'that feed upon the scant but rich her- 
bage that grows upon them. 

There were granted to the State of Colorado for various 
purposes, by the General Government, under Congressional 
enactment, at the time the State was admitted into the 
Union, lands to the amount of seven hundred and fifty 



SAi^ LUIS PARK. 133 

thousand acres. The first State executive officers at once 
availed themselves of this opportunity to select for the 
State the choicest acres susceptible of irrigation to be 
found within the borders of the State. These lands were 
taken on the Platte Kiver and its tributaries, in the South 
Park, and in the Arkansas Valley; but the largest, and 
probably the best body of State lands, was located in the 
Kio Grande Valley, in the great San Luis Park. Here 
the State selected some two hundred and odd thousand 
acres of land that is rich almost beyond comparison, and 
that will produce, in fabulous quantities, every cereal and 
vegetable grown in the northern and central latitudes of 
the United States. These lands have not been occupied, 
because the State Board of Land Commissioners refused to 
sell, and adopted a policy of leasing; they could not be 
tilled on account of the want of irrigating facilities, and 
capitalists would not build canals for the uncertain tenure 
of leasing; so the choicest arable areas within the borders 
of the State lay idle for years. The General Assembly of 
1881, however, enacted a law, authorizing the sale of one- 
half of entire tracts of these lands to persons or corpora- 
tions who would build irrigating canals for the entire tract. 
Under this law the land has been eagerly sought for, and 
companies have been organized to buy areas and con- 
struct the required canals. 

Unfortunately the waters of the Platte Eiver have been, 
in a great measure, appropriated by prior companies, and 
the irrigation of the State lands lying in this pleasant, 
fertile valley is looked upon with some doubt by conserva- 
tive and thoughtful men; yet large areas have been sold, 
* and, as has been stated in the chapter devoted to the 
South Platte Valley, the construction of canals intended 
to irrigate them, has begun. 

In the Piio Grande Valley there is opened a grand field 
for the development of the agricultural resources of the 
State. This river has but few canals throusfhout its en- 



134 COLORADO AS AN" AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

tire length in the State, and there is in it suflBcient water 
to irrigate many thousand acres, and the peculiar confor- 
mation of the ground is very favorable to the building of 
canals and for the distribution of the water. So very 
favorable is this latter condition, that the Hon. B. H. 
Eaton, the most extensive contractor and constructor of 
irrigation works in the State, in a report to the capitalists 
who compose the company known throughout Colorado 
and Great Britian as the " Northern Colorado Irrigation 
Company," said "the lands in this valley can be irri- 
gated at one-fourth the cost that it requires in Northern 
Colorado." 

To cover the State lands here, two great canals are 
projected, one to cover lands lying on the north side of 
the river, and the other on the south side. This last is 
incorporated under the name of the State Land Canal 
Company, and is being built as fast as possible, and the 
company expects to be jorepared to furnish water and sell 
land, as early as the spring of 1883, though the entire 
line will not probably be completed before the spring of 
1884. The altitude, ranging from six thousand to seven 
thousand feet, is rather high, still the season is long 
enough and the soil fertile enough to attract settlement 
where water is in ample supply. 

The canal is located in the counties of Eio Grande and 
Conejos, though the greater length is in the latter county. 
It is to be thirty miles long, and it is probable that it 
covers more land for its length than any canal in the 
world, for the reason that its course is almost the chord 
of a semi-circle. There are to be three main laterals, and 
the total length of these are fully sixty miles. The main 
canal for the first section of five miles is seventy-five feet 
wide on the water surface, and is eight feet deep; water 
to flow on a grade of eighteen inches to the mile. As 
the canal progresses, the width is to be decreased so that 
the last section will probably be about twenty feet wide. 



SAN- LUIS PARK. 135 

The writer, a few months since, made an extended 
tour through this promising region. 

It was a bright, warm day in August as I journeyed 
over the plains that lie between Alamosa and Del JSTorte, 
on the south side of the Rio Grande River; around me 
stretched thousands of acres of land, the sod of which 
had never known a plow furrow; for countless centuries, 
summer and winter, with warmth and with cold, with 
sunshine and with storm, had come and gone, and still 
these plains lay green and thick with grease wood, sage- 
brush and gramma grass through the summer time, bare 
and brown through the winter months, and here they 
were still awaiting — what? Could anything be done to 
change their character? 

I alighted from the wagon at various points on our 
journey, and with a spade dug down into the soil; here it 
was dark and full of fibrous roots; there it was soft, ashy 
in its nature; further on a sandy loam showed itself. 
Then, as I held these various specimens of soil in shape- 
less masses in my hand, there came to me the legend of 
Saint Raymond and his disciples, and these wide and ap- 
parently desolate plains assumed a new aspect in my 
mind. 

Without water, a desert; with water, a Garden of Eden. 
And yonder, not seen with the eye from the point on 
which I stood, but signaling its presence by a fringe of 
green running for miles along the horizon, ran a river in 
whose bountiful bosom was stored the precious fluid 
whose touch upon these barren lands should be as vivify- 
inof as was the water to the Resurrection Flower in the 
ancient vase. 

The possibilities of the future dawned upon me. Here 
was an empire unoccupied; here was room for a thousand 
homes; here were all things save men, capital, energy, 
faith. Why were they wanting in this fair San Luis 
Park, while in the far north no stream ran unfettered in 



136 COLORADO AS AN AGllICULTURAL STATE. 

its course, but from out each breast ran channels to irri- 
gate the land and bring into blossom, bloom and f ruits'ge, 
grains, vegetables, cereals, fruits? All around were the 
mighty mountains, looking down upon a magnificent 
plain, and through its course the Rio Grande del Norte, 
a stream greater than the Arkansas or the South Platte, 
but the mountains gave back no answer. 

As in a dream I swept along until suddenly I was 
brought to a realization of the present. Here was a rail- 
road track, and close beside it men and teams were busy 
with scrapers, throwing up the soil and making a canal 
wide enough and deep enough to float a schooner. The 
past with its eons of eternal silence vanished in an in- 
stant. The present, with all the actualities of the busy 
age, was before me. The crunch of the scraper in the 
sand was suggestive of a new era. The mule teams cir- 
cling in gangs of five from canal-bed to berme-bank were 
types of labor, whose outcome should be for the rebuild- 
ing of the State and of the people. Here was a project 
in which man's skill was to direct a current of water 
from a channel in which it had ran for ages, and send it 
out over vast stretches of prairie lands to increase the in- 
dustrial wealth of a commonwealth. Given water, the 
land is no longer barren; provided man, with hands 
hardened by toil, with brow browned by the summer sun, 
would do here as he had done elsewhere. Mother Na- 
ture, can she be less kind in the valley of the Rio Grande 
than she has been in the valleys of the Arkansas, the 
South Platte, the Boulder, the St. Vrain, the Gache-la- 
Poudre? No, let but the same conditions exist, and 
upon these plains there will rise as fair wheat fields, as 
prosperous homesteads, or intelligent communities as 
elsewhere, to make Colorado the pride of her citizens. 

Think what will be the result of putting one hundred 
thousand acres of land where they can be utilized and 
made to serve the manifold interests of man? One thou- 



SAiq- LUIS PARK. 137 

sand farms of one hundred acres each, all in cultivation, 
would make a wondrous change in the story now told 
concerning agriculture in Colorado. There can be as 
much wheat, oats, barley, potatoes, hay, and vegetables 
raised from the fertile lands under this company's canal, 
as is now produced in Boulder, Larimer, Weld, Jefferson, 
and Arapahoe, the five great agricultural counties of 
Northern Colorado. 

Put these one hundred thousand acres into good cul- 
tivation and they would yield: 

Wheat, 60,000 acres yield 1,200,000 bushels, value, $1,800,000 

Oats, 10,000 acres yield 350,000 bushels, value 245,000 

Barley, 10,000 acres yield 400,000 bushels, value 400,000 

Potatoes, 5,000 acres yield 1,000,000 bushels 750,000 

Hay, 10,000 acres yield 10,000 tone, value 200,000 

Vegetables, 10,000 acres yield 200,000 

Small Fruits (currants, goosberries, raspberries, blackberries, 

strawberries) 250,000 

$3,795,000 

In the above estimate it will be seen that corn is left 
out. Still this is not because corn will not mature in 
the valley, for at Del Norte, fifteen miles west, and at an 
altitude fifteen hundred feet higher than the lands 
under these canals, the white Mexican corn thoroughly 
matures. 

During the year 1881, produce was shipped into the 
State amounting to nearly twelve millions of dollars. 
Nearly all of this was for articles that can be raised here; 
that are raised here, in fact, only not in sufficient quan- 
tities to meet the demands of the people. This need not 
continue. It will not, when in this great San Luis Park, 
both south and north of the Rio Grande River, there shall 
be seen fenced farms, pasture and wheat lands, substan- 
tial farm houses and barns, and at various points central 
settlements, where churches, schools, reading-rooms, 
newspapers and stores are grouped together — tokens all 



138 COLOKADO AS AIT AGRICULTUKAL STATE. 

of thrifty communities, civilized societies, and above all, 
an unerring index to comfortable and happy homes. 

All this, in time. True, it takes time to {iccomplish 
this. But not so long, after all. What was there in the 
Cache-la -Poudre Valley in the year 1870? Only on the 
bottom lands were there hay farms, homes of old-time 
pioneers who looked upon the mesa lands or uplands that 
stretched above them as utterly worthless, save for grazing 
grounds for cattle, as homes for prairie dogs, and as 
ground fit only for cactus to grow upon. Now behold 
the change. By the entrance into that valley of energetic 
farmers, and their steady perseverance and tireless toil, 
they have added millions to the taxable value of the State, 
founded thriving towns, and dotted the uplands with a 
thousand farms, all under irrigation; canals whose life- 
giving waters have carried food and fortune to those who 
possess the land. 

What has been done there can be done in the valley of 
the Kio Grande. Indeed, it was but by merest chance 
that the Union Colony of Greeley did not settle in San 
Luis Park. The Exploring Committee sent out in the 
winter of 1869 — 70 sought to pass over the Sangre de 
Christo range and into the valley lands lying under the 
shadow of Sierra Blanca. But then there was no rail- 
road; busy hands had not graded Veta Pass for the iron 
link that was to bind Eastern and Western Colorado to- 
gether. A heavy snowfall had rendered the pass impass- 
able, and the committee failed to see a land of which they 
had heard much and favorably. So they turned their 
faces northward again and, sitting on the banks of the 
Cache-la-Poudre, saw in fancy the city of Greeley rise be- 
fore them in a vision of the future. 

Their dream was turned into a reality. Is there reason 
to believe that the experiment of twelve years ago cannot 
be repeated at this point in Southern Colorado? Here is the 
land; is it any different from that of Northern Colorado? 



SAN LUIS PAEK. 139 

I believe it is better, having greater depth. Is there any 
less water? On the contrary there is far more than in 
the first-named valle}^, enough to water four times the 
amount of land. Is the growing season longer or 
shorter? Shorter, perhaps, but long enough for all kind 
of grain, hardy vegetables and small fruits, and there is 
no reason to doubt that apples and other standard fruits 
can be grown there, though this is not a fact absolutely 
established. Six months of growing weather, at least, 
can be safely calculated upon, and Canada and some of 
our extreme Northern and. Eastern States cannot count 
upon so long a season, and yet apples are grown to per- 
fection in these States. The land generally, it may be 
said, is a sandy loam, almost level, with fall enough 
to make irrigation easy and j^erfect, easily worked 
and irrigated, and the soil deep enough to last a genera- 
tion for grain culture without requiring the application 
of manure. The water supply is ample, far more so in 
the San Luis Valley than elsewhere in Eastern Colorado, 
it having been estimated that the Eio Grande Eiver will 
supply irrigation sufficient for three hundred thousand 
acres. All this land is virgin soil, waiting to welcome 
the farmer to possibilities unequalled anywhere in the 
States east of the Rocky Mountain Range. 

And why ^^ unequalled" you ask? I answer, because 
the expense of cultivation is less, the average yield more, 
the prices obtained better than elsewhere. These lands, 
when water is applied, will yield in value above all ex- 
pense of cultivation, interest, taxes, etc., a net return 
per acre in crops as follows: 

Wheat $14.50 i Potatoes $ GO.OO 

Oats 17.00 Onions 250.00 

Barley 16.00 Cabbage 350.00 

Hay 15.00 I Berries 400.00 

The extensive system of the Denver and Rio Grande 
railway company, whose recent extensions have opened 



140 COLORADO AS Aiq" AGRIUCLTURAL STATE. 

up tlie whole south-western portions of Colorado to 
settlement, courses through these lands, and gives an 
outlet to every point of the compass. The main line to 
far-off Durango runs via Alamosa. So does the line 
entering New Mexico. A branch — shortly to be built — 
will reach the mining sections of ChaSee and other 
counties by way of Sagauche, while the eastern outlet is 
over La Veta Pass, whose beauty has been told by tour- 
ists, and whose Mule Shoe Bend is in the front rank of 
railroad engineering skill. Markets, near and afar, are 
thus within easy reach; for doubtless when settlements 
have been made along the line of this enterprising rail- 
way, there will be a station established upon some point 
on the lands under this canal that will be the depot for 
centering and moving the crops of the valley, at rates 
that will enable farmers to compete, at least, with Utah 
on the "West, Kansas on the East, and Dakota on the 
North. 

Prof. Hayden, in his report upon the cultivable areas 
of Colorado, 187G, declares that the agricultural caj^abil- 
ities of the San Luis Park, are measured only by the sup- 
l^ly of water, and then adds: ^'Prof. Cyrus Thomas, in 
his annual report for 1870, page 198, estimates the land 
capable of irrigation at twenty-live per cent, without the 
use of reservoirs. Li this estimate I agree with him. 
The amount of water which enters the valley north of the 
line of New Mexico, including the Eio Grande (which is 
by far the Largest stream) will irrigate nearly thirteen 
hundred square miles. This is very nearly all the water 
which enters the valley. The area to be irrigated, then, 
is practically the entire area of the whole valley, and is 
about twenty-five per cent, of the whole area. I, how- 
ever, suppose all this water is used in that j^art of the 
park which is in Colorado, and thus increase the irriga- 
tion to 32.5 per cent. 

"This area is proportioned as follows, among the differ- 



SAK LUIS PARK. 141 

ent streams which enter the valley. The Eio Grande 
carries, at the end of the irrigating season, not far from 
two thousand five hundred cubic feet of water per second. 
In that part of its course above the San Luis Valley, there 
is but little land that can be irrigated. The presumption 
that one cubic foot of water per second will suffice to irri- 
gate two hundred and eighteen acres, will not hold good 
in the case of the Rio Grande drainage area here, for the 
soil is sandy, and involves a waste. Instead of three 
cubic feet per second to the square mile, five will be 
none too much. This, however, would give an area of 
five hundred square miles by the river and by its branches, 
as follows: Alamosa and the La Jara, one hundred miles; 
Conejos about the same; Trinchera seventy miles; Cule- 
bra fifty-eight miles; Costilla twenty-nine miles; Gata 
fifteen miles. It will be seen, that this gives, in round 
numbers, six hundred thousand acres of land within the 
borders of these four counties susceptible of cultivation. 
It is not probable that there is at the present time 
over one hundred and seventy-five thousand acres of 
land in the entire State, yielding wheat, oats, corn, 
barley, rye, and potatoes, which crops are valued, in 
round numbers, at four millions of dollars. Computing 
from these figures as a basis, therefore, it would appear 
that the latent cereal wealth in the bosom of San Luis 
Park would, if developed, add nearly fifteen millions of 
dollars to the annual aggregate of Colorado's soil pro- 
duction. The Park may be said to be a Commonwealth 
in itself. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



SOUTH-WESTERN COLORADO. 

In the south-western corner of Colorado there is con- 
siderable agricultural land, within the borders of La 
Plata County. The Yalleys of Los Pinos, Florida, Ani- 
mas, La Plata, Mancos, Dolores, and San Juan, can each 
boast of a fertile soil of greater or less area. The trend of 
the surface being toward the south, there is thereby se- 
cured a genial climate peculiarly favorable to successful 
vegetation. The mean elevation is about six thousand 
feet. The mountains on the north, rising five thousand 
feet or more above the valleys, are like a mighty wall of 
protection against the northern blasts. These valleys are 
rapidly filling up with intelligent farmers, where the 
lands are not reserved for the use of the Indians. The 
entrance of the Denver and Eio 'Grande railway into 
the county has given a healthy impetus to the wave of 
immigration beating against this far-off corner of the 
State. At Durango, a prosperous city has been estab- 
lished, commanding the entire trade of the country. The 
mines in this vicinity are already producing great wealth, 
thus giving additional value to all the lands that can be 
cultivated in this section. There are, perhaps, twenty- 
five thousand acres of the best grade as to quality of soil, 
in this county, susceptible of the highest cultivation, and 
as productive as any in the State. 

Los Pinos Valley, through the entire length of thirty 
miles, is admirably adapted to farming, the volume of 
water being abundant, and the soil very fertile. The 
valley of the Florida is small in extent, but exceedingly 
rich; the scenery is wondrously beautiful, and will, in 
(142) 



SOUTH-WESTERiq- COLOEADO. 143 

time, make it an attractive point for tourists. Con- 
cerning the valley of the Animas, a writer in one of its 
local papers asserts that the name signifies the Spirit 
Kiver, and is applied with entire propriety, as it flows 
along with a weird and murmuring sound, receiving the 
silvery water of rivulet and cascade, from glen and grotto, 
dashing anon through canon and gorge, until, reaching 
the vortex of a precipice, the seething waters of the 
cataract plunge into the lower channel, and leaving the 
Grand Canon, the majestic river sweeps around to its con- 
fluence. The upper part of this valley, only, is in Colora- 
do, but it contains a magnificent stretch of farming land, 
beginning within three miles of Durango, ten miles wide, 
and twenty miles long. The altitude is six thousand five 
hundred feet; the summer and fall months are pleasant, 
the air being cool and bracing; while the winter climate 
is not more severe than other parts of Colorado. Tim- 
ber and coal, gold and silver mines, abound in this vicin- 
ity. The timber is yellow and white pine, with some 
spruce and red cedar. The coal veins run from four to 
fifty feet, and are of the finest quality; equal to anthra- 
cite. The mining districts in the vicinity are La Plata, 
Eico, San Miguel, Silverton, and the Needle Mountains. 
The valley is distant four hundred and fifty miles from 
Denver, and but a day's journey by rail over the Denver 
and Rio Grande railway. 

Rio Dolores Valley has but little land capable of culti- 
vation. In what is known as the Big Bend, there is an 
area of two thousand acres, well farmed. There is said 
to be in Montezuma Park over five thousand acres of 
good land, to which it is proposed to lead the water of 
the Dolores, though the cost will be considerable; when 
it is done, this extreme outpost of the agricultural lands 
of Colorado will be made to bloom, beneath the magic in- 
fluence of water, into beautiful gardens and fields. Even 
if the valley lands of La Plata County were all occupied 



144 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

and cropped to their utmost capacity, the supply would 
not equal the demand, in consequence of the rapidly in- 
creasing population of the mining districts in the imme- 
diate neighborhood of its principal town, Durango. 

On to the Gunnison! was the battle-cry of the 
prospector, last year, and will be again. It has some im- 
portance, therefore, as a point toward which our agri- 
cultural products must flow. The mines create a market. 
The miners pay cash. The harvest gathered from the 
soil, under the genial influence of the sun and the water, 
is as golden as that taken from the hills, whose supposed 
wealth attracts so many prospectors. 

In the Gunnison Valley, Prof. Wheeler, who has exam- 
ined it thoroughly, claims that the agricultural lands are 
unsurpassed for their luxuriance of vegetation, and those 
who have long been residents are profuse in tlieir praises 
of such sections of it as are now open to settlement. As 
yet no great amount of land has been put under plow. 
For the last two years the ranchmen have fallen victims 
to the mining fever, and the attractions of Ruby, Pitkin, 
Virginia City, and the Elk Mountains, have been too 
strong for the eager souls who want to get rich very fast. 
A writer in that country says that the excitement created 
by rich strikes in these new mining camps so demoralized 
the ranchmen in the Gunnison Valley, that the older 
the settlement grew, the more it became dependent upon 
the outside world, for produce its own neighborhood 
could produce with ease. 

Farming has been followed, more or less, in the coun- 
try below the town of Gunnison, since the spring of 1874, 
when a colony settlement was made there. From that 
time up to the present it has continued with variable 
success. Mr. S. Richardson, who has resided there since 
that year, says, * ^ No better potato or root crops can be 
raised elsewhere than have been raised in the Gunnison 
Valley. Barley, oats, rye, and Mexican wheat do well 



SOUTH-WESTERif COLORADO. 145 

when not over-irrigated. * * * * ^ fg^ energetic 
farmers, like some I could name, who are already here, 
could revolutionize this whole country in regard to agri- 
culture. Surrounded by the best mines in the world, 
with hard and soft coals in abundance, there will be, for 
many years to come, a market unsurpassed for magnifi- 
cent prices for good articles. A place like this, accessible 
from all points, at all times, must, with its wonderful 
advantages, become the great metropolis of the Western 
slope of Colorado." Another writer has very truly writ- 
ten, referring to Grand Valley: '' I believe I can truly say 
that there is no better land and no better climate on the 
face of the earth, with an altitude of from four thousand 
to five thousand feet, susceptible of producing everything 
by irrigation that would be desirable — fruit of nearly 
every description, and all the different varieties of grain 
and vegetables grown in the States of Missouri and Kan- 
sas. From an agricultural point of view, therefore, as 
well as from the miner's outlook, these hunting grounds 
of the savages will soon be changed into camp and farm. 
The finger of the coming civilization points to the Elk 
Mountains as steadily as the needle points to the pole." 

The Uncompahgre has a valley from one to four miles 
wide, and thirty-five miles long. It is estimated that it 
contains about sixty-four thousand acres of land which can 
easily be irrigated, with perhaps a greater quantity on 
the adjacent mesas that could be watered, but would 
require the construction of expensive canals. The soil 
on the bottom lands is exceedingly fertile, and is capable 
of producing all kinds of crops that can be raised at 
altitudes between five thousand and six thousand feet. 
It is adobe, mixed with sand. 

From just below the junction of the North fork and 

the Gunnison, there is a valley which is about ten miles 

long, ending at the mouth of the Uncompahgre. It is 

three miles wide, and easily watered. On the Gunnison, 

7 



146 COLORADO AS AX AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

between the mouth of the Uncompahgre and the Grand, 
there are several valleys of from one hundred and sixty 
to one thousand acres, but the river generally runs 
through a canon. On the north of the river is a mesa 
(upland) where water would create good farms. Be- 
tween the Gunnison and the Grand is some fine upland. 
It is a clay and sand soil, covered with wire and bunch 
grass. But it is too high to be irrigated save at consid- 
erable expense. If ever a canal is constructed, there are 
at least sixty thousand acres of land for farming. From 
the junction of the Grand and Gunnison, westward, for 
a distance of about thirty miles, on the north side of the 
river is a magnificent valley about four miles Avide, most 
of which can be watered at no great cost. The soil here 
is the same as on the Uncompahgre, with perhaps less 
alkali and more sand. Patches of sage brash, grease-wood 
and squaw bushes, abound. These last mentioned are load- 
ed down with a small red berry, resembling the currant, 
and is considered fully as good for cooking. On the 
borders of the streams there are groves of cottonwoods, 
and the foot-hills are covered with a splendid growth of 
cedar and pifion. Higher up the mountains pine and 
spruce abound. 

Towns are springing up all through this, until now, 
inaccessible country. The Denver and Rio Grande rail- 
way runs through the entire region on its way to Salt 
Lake City. The South Park Branch of the Union Pa- 
cific railway is also in the same section. The two roads 
will meet at the junction of tlie Uncompahgre and Grand, 
and then run parallel with each other down the Gunni- 
son and Grand. The land on the latter stream was sur- 
veyed not long since for an Indian reservation, but the 
Indians have been removed to Utah. Most of the 
land on the Uncompahgre and Gunnison has not yet been 
surveyed, but will be in the spring of 1883. These lands 
are open to settlement, pending survey. 



SOUTH-WESTEEN- COLORADO. 147 

On these streams there is room for thousands of farm- 
ers, and the mild climate will cause every available place 
to be taken. It is predicted that the lower Grand Valley 
will, in a few years, furnish fruit and vegetables equal to 
Utah, and also be a great resort for invalids. A recent 
visit to this valley tends to confirm this impression in my 
mind. 

Park County, lying west of El Paso and Douglas 
counties, is watered by the South Platte and a number 
of small tributaries. It has little value as a grain region, 
or for the growth of general crops. The lands lie at a 
high altitude, and are surrounded on three sides by the 
main range and spurs of mountains. The cold winds 
from the snow-crowned hills sweep over them, and only 
at two or three favorable points near the eastern line of 
the county can any gardening or farming be done. But 
as a pastoral, a hay-producing county, it is excelled by 
none in the State. These industries constitute no mean 
item in the resources of the county. Perhaps fifty thou- 
sand tons of hay are annually cut, having a market value 
of nearly three-quarters of a million of dollars. The 
mining towns all around furnish a ready market. The 
soil is rich and deep, and the mountain slopes make mag- 
nificent grazing grounds, while the valleys of the streams 
are reserved for meadow lands. It is probable that seventy- 
five thousand acres of land are fenced for hay and pas- 
ture. In the main valley, especially, are hay farms, 
ranging in extent from four hundred to one thousand 
acres, all substantially enclosed and cared for. In the 
neighborhood of Hartsel, Garo, and Buffalo Springs, ad- 
ditions are constantly made to the hay lands. On Trout 
Creek there is one farm of four thousand acres enclosed 
in one fence. It is provided with an irrigating canal, seven 
miles long and ten feet wide, from which thirteen miles 
of laterals disti'ibute water over the bottom lands. In 
a few years such a farm will annually produce three thou- 



148 COLORADO AS AK AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

sand tons of hay. At the junction of the two forks of 
the South Platte, thirty-three miles of fence enclose a 
pasture farm of three thousand nine hundred acres m ex- 
tent, while two irrigating canals supply it with water. 
Near Buffalo Springs there is one farm of one thousand 
acres, where experiments m cultivating the native grasses 
have been successfully made, especially^ with red top and 
timothy. Specimens of timothy, four feet and four 
inches in length, with heads over eight inches long, have 
been taken from a timothy field of twenty acres in this 
county, grown at an altitude of seven thousand eight 
hundred feet. Seeded in the fall of 1879, used as pas- 
ture during 1880, last season three tons were cut to the 
acre. A late writer, referring to this county, says that, 
* ^ when the land is enclosed and care taken in cleaning out 
the hummocks, the grasses root well in the uncovered 
soil, and some meadows return as high as three tons to 
the acre. The natural hay lands yield from one-half to 
one ton, and what may be termed foot-hills, from one- 
fourth to one-half a ton. Wherever irrigation is possi- 
ble, excellent crops are raised that rate higher than any 
other hay in the market. " 

Cattle raising, as may be imagined, is a paying busi- 
ness in such a pastoral district. Some fine herds are 
kept. Some sheep are kept to good profit; they range 
on the side hills in summer, and are kept in well-pro- 
tected enclosures during the winter. 

Custer County has within its borders the Wet Moun- 
tain Valley. Grape Creek crosses through this, on its 
way to the Arkansas. The valley is ten miles wide and 
twenty-five miles long. It has an altitude of six thou- 
sand five hundred feet above the level of the sea. The 
first hay ranches taken up in this valley were in 1869. 
The next year a German colony of over one hundred 
families settled here, founding the town of Colfax. But 
the enterprise was badly managed. It failed as a co- 



SOUTH-WESTEKK COLOKADO. 149 

operative organization, and its members scattered. The 
soil of the yalley is of a rich, black, humus nature. It 
will produce wheat, rye, barley, oats, potatoes, beans, 
and indeed all the hardy Tegetables. In addition to 
these, a yariety of corn, known as Mexican — a small, 
white, hard corn, can be raised, averaging thirty bushels 
to the acre. But the present (as well as the future) in- 
dustry of this valley is hay, of which can be raised hun- 
dreds of thousands of tons of the finest and most nutri- 
tious quality. The grass in the valley proper, in the 
gulches, and along the mountain sides, is extremely rich, 
and has a spicy flavor, said to be equalled only by the 
grass grown on the mountains of Switzerland. 

Though the German colony mentioned was a failure, 
still nearly one-third of its members remained, taking 
up land under Grovernment regulations, and a fair meas- 
ure of success has attended them. The valley itself is 
unequalled for beauty, lying as it does m an undulating 
basin, having Grape Creek for its drainage, with the 
snowy summits of the Sangre de Christo range and the 
Sierra Mojada on either hand. The width of the grass 
lands proper is three miles, while those that are bordered 
on both sides by table lands, vary from three to six miles. 
Ula, settled in 1871, is surrounded by a fine farming 
country, in which hay and cattle ranches abound. Nu- 
merous little creeks course through the valley, while the 
Ula Canal Company is a corporate institution, having an 
irrigating canal of considerable size, covering a wide area 
of land devoted to hay meadows. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



ARTESIAN WELLS— RESERVOIRS. 

This subject is attracting some attention in the State. 
The General Government, owning so much vacant land 
within its borders, has twice appropriated several thou- 
sand dollars to be used in experimenting on the plains 
east of the Rocky Mountain Range. About two years 
ago, under the first Congressional appropriation, the 
Commissioner of Agriculture selected a point in the 
Arkansas Valley, just north of the town of West Las 
Animas, and within the military reservation of Fort 
Lyon, and from time to time work was continued on it, 
with but little success, until the appropriation was ex- 
hausted. There seems to be a belief that the site selected 
was unsuitable, and the money needlessly squandered. 
When the Commissioner was in Colorado, he hardly 
spent two weeks in examining the country, and it was 
scarcely known that he had come, before it was announced 
that he had made his location and had gone. Be this as 
it may, the results of the boring have been unsatisfactory. 

Commissioner Loring, who has charge of the last ap- 
propriation, wisely sent out a commission composed of 
gentlemen eminently adapted for the position, to traverse 
the section of the country bordering upon the eastern 
range of mountains, and to report thereon before a new 
attempt was made at boring. They reported two locations 
in Eastern Colorado, at points called Akron and Chey- 
enne Wells, and this winter work will be commenced 
upon them. 
(150) 



AKTESIAK WELLS — RESERVOIRS. 151 

The movement to sink artesian wells in Colorado is 
one of vast interest. If successful, hundreds of thou- 
sands of acres will be changed from merely wild pasture 
to arable land, capable of producing thirty bushels of 
wheat to the acre, and would thereby add millions to the 
producing industries of the State. A full development 
of its agricultural resources can hardly be had by irriga- 
tion, as practised from the natural surface flow of water. 
Large as it is at present, compared to what it was sup- 
posed to be ten years ago; and large as it will be when 
the water supply is systematized to the greatest good of 
the greatest number, even then but a few hundred thou- 
sand acres can be cultivated, while many millions will 
lie idle, affording scanty support to the cattle that roam 
over it. But the fact once established that artesian 
wells can be sunk upon the prairies, and a stride forward 
is made in the agriculture of Colorado which will put it 
in the front rank of grain-producing areas. 

The Sahara of to day in Africa is a different desert 
from what it was half a century ago. Vegetation 
abounds, villages have sprung up, and the entire face of 
nature has been changed by the sinking of artesian wells. 
Nearly a hundred are in successful operation. Large 
areas of land have been placed under cultivation. The 
supply of water is abundant and of good quality, and the 
desert of ancient times is fast disappearing before the 
skill of modern science. 

It is not certain that the vast waste of plain between 
the border line of rainfall in Kansas and the Indian Ter- 
ritory on the east, and the Foot-hills of the Rocky Moun- 
tains, can be reclaimed from their solitude and apparent 
desolation, and transferred into abodes fit for the habi- 
tation of man. Grass, sage-brush, and grease wood in- 
dicate fertility of soil. It is known that where sage- 
brush grows, the finest wheat producing lands have been 
found by our farmers in the valleys and uplands border- 



152 COLORADO AS AN" AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

ing our streams. It would seem as if all the elements of 
agricultural growth were lying perdu in the soil of the 
plains, lacking only one thing to bring them to fertile 
productiveness. That one thing is water. Does it sweep 
in subterranean streams beneath the soil? Is it flowing 
down the grade between the mountains and the plains? 
Where is the witch-hazel wand that can tap its hidden 
volume and bid it rise to the surface, meeting sunlight 
and starlight, and becoming submissive to the humor of 
mankind? 

The first thing, then, is to know that it is there hid- 
den beneath the sod. There are many who do not be- 
lieve in the theory, who are students of science as 
well as practical observers. Prof. E, L. Berthoud might 
be mentioned as one of them, who believes that the 
chances of obtaining surperfluous supplies of water from 
artesian wells are inversely proportioned to their distance 
from the mountain range, and that *^ to attempt to bore 
for permanent supplies of water east of parallel one hun- 
dred and five, in Larimer, Boulder, Jefferson, Arapahoe, 
Douglas, and Bent Counties, will be infruitious and un- 
satisfactory, and cannot, we believe, lead to the discovery 
and delivery of large, permanent supplies of water." 

An artesian well has been described as a small hole, 
sunk to a great depth in the earth, through which cur- 
rents of water rise toward the surface and sometimes 
flow over. To secure this state of things, three condi- 
tions are necessary. First, a fountain head higher than 
the place where the well is to be bored. This is easy 
enough to secure in Colorado. Second, a moderate dip 
of the strata towards the site of the well. It is not so 
certain that this can be secured. Third, alternations of 
porous and impervious strata beneath the surface. This 
fact is yet to be ascertained. 

The authority before Referred to, Prof. Berthoud, in a 
paper on Artesian Supplies, declares that, though water 



ARTESIAl^ AYELLS — RESEKVOIRS. 153 

may be found all along (but close to) the foot-hill range, 
from New Mexico to Wyoming, yet it fails to reach the 
surface; the water thus tapjDed is only the result of local 
drainage, or obtained from scattered crevices that exist 
everywhere in the porous sand-stone and slates, that un- 
derlie the whole region, and that this universal diffusion of 
underground veins, small in size, obtained by local drain- 
age, is the reason of their failure to reach the surface or 
to flow above it. 

Twenty years ago, near Fort Lyon, where the experi- 
mental work of boring for artesian supplies has been go- 
ing on, an effort was made to obtain well water. At a 
depth of seventy feet, the same clay showed and not a 
drop of water was obtained. The experiment was aban- 
doned, though the well was sunk in an affluent, then 
dry, of the Arkansas River. 

The question, therefore, are there underground flowing 
currents of water coming from the vast mountain ranges 
in "Western Colorado, remains unanswered. Until it is 
settled, it is useless to discuss what an amount of land 
can be watered from the flow thereof. The present out- 
look is against their success. For years to come, farm- 
ers are likely to find their supply for irrigation from sur- 
face-running streams, and from reservoirs, where vast 
supplies can be stored during periods when the volume 
of running water is greatest, and at times when but little 
is used for irrigating. At present one-half of what is 
used is wasted by careless usage, and two-thirds flow by 
unappropriated. There is water enough and to spare, 
for years to come, for irrigating purposes in Colorado. 

It has been proposed, at various times, to increase the 
amount of water available for the purpose of irrigation, 
by the establishment of reservoirs at convenient points. 
There are times in the year when water flows in excess of 
the demand for its use, and when the regular season for 
irrigating is over, it runs away unchecked. This volume of 



154 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

precious moisture could be safely stored and drawn from 
when needed. A few lake reservoirs have already been 
tried, and in a limited way proven successful. In the 
neighborhoods of Greeley, Fort Collins, Longmont, and 
Berthoud, there are lakes used as reservoirs for farms 
lying below them. Still, there exists a feeling which, on 
the part of farmers in some districts, has grown into a 
conviction that, thus far, reservoirs have done more harm 
than good. One of the great drawbacks to this whole 
business of irrigation is the seepage. Spread out a large 
body of water in the form of a lake, and the waste on 
the lands below it will be much greater than that out of 
a canal. There is so much greater surface from which the 
water may leak. The water is standing at dead weight, 
on the lake, while it is running at a greater or less velocity 
through the artificial channel. Under some canals much 
land has been rendered untillable on this account, and 
farmers unhesitatingly affirm that they would suffer much 
less by this cause were it not for the seepage from reser- 
voirs which have been made in some cases by the farmers 
themselves, in others by the water from canals gather- 
ing in natural basins, spreading out upon broad surfaces, 
from which the damage is redoubled upon the lands be- 
low. In the latter case, this waste from the ditch often 
forms a broad flag-covered marsh. In the winter this 
freezes over. The water and ice go on increasing until 
spring, when the thaw comes, and vast tracts of country 
are flooded. Invariably the canal is the cause of all, but 
the damage has been greatly increased by the use of reser- 
voirs. A few have worked to a charm, but whenever the 
water that is wasted by thus sinking, passes through 
an alkali deposit, or through soil containing alkali in any 
considerable quantity, when it comes to the surface it 
will injure the soil, and often completely destroy its pro- 
ductiveness. In the Cache-la-Poudre Valley, hundreds 
of acres that were once very productive, have been aban- 



ARTESIAN WELLS — EESERVOIRS. 155 

doned on this account. There is little doubt, however, 
but that every acre of this class of land may be com- 
pletely reclaimed and made most productive land. I 
have been told that such has been found to be the case 
in Italy, where peo23le have been studying irrigation and 
its effects for centuries. The method to be pursued will 
involve drainage at some expense, which will pay, when 
lands become more valuable than they now are. 

Ultimately, then, the fact of seepage as a cause of dam- 
age to land will not figure as a valid objection to the stor- 
age of water in reservoirs for future use in irrigating. 
Thus far these lake reservoirs have been constructed on 
the plains. ISTo attempt has yet been made to store water 
in the mountains, but it seems as if the most practical 
locations would be found inside the foot-hills. There a 
great depth may be obtained in which a large volume of 
water can be stored, with but a small surface exposed to 
the action of evaporation. 

Prof. Hayden, in his report of 1876, briefly adverted 
to reservoirs, but declared it to be unnecessary to 
dwell upon the subject, as the necessity for them was in 
the far future. Of this I am not so sure. We are be- 
ginning to realize that the storage of waste water is closely 
connected with our permanent prosperity, as far as agri- 
culture is concerned, and it behooves us to consider care- 
fully and well all plans that may be brought forward for 
this purpose. The Professor favored the plan, provided 
any movement was made in this direction, of construct- 
ing small reservoirs on the bottom lands. He says: 
" There are many points on the Arkansas and South 
Platte where, by the approach of the river bluffs to the 
stream on both sides, a dam could be built to connect 
them, at slight expense, and thus a considerable body of 
water imprisoned until needed. A succession of these, 
along the streams, placed where the local topography and 
the needs of the land require, would serve the purpose of 



156 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL STAIE. 

utilizing all the water which i? annually sent down from 
the mountains. As a favorable place to build a large 
reservoir, in which all the water of the Arkansas may 
be stored, I will mention a small valley in the midst of 
the canon of that river, called Pleasant Valley. It is 
about ten miles long by three in average width. At this 
point it could easily be dammed, and the water drawn off 
as needed by the channel of the river. A good pomt for 
forming a large reservoir on the Rio Grande is near the 
foot of San Luis Valley, where the river suddenly runs 
into a narrow passage between two perpendicular walls of 
basalt. A dam at this point would collect all the water 
which the stream would annually bring down." 

In Southern Colorado, as yet, the need of the reservoir 
system is not apparent. But in the northern agricultural 
districts, where already a scarcity of water is experienced, 
in some years, the subject begins to assume immediate 
importance. It would have been far wiser to have spent 
the money appropriated for artesian well experiments, in 
the construction of one or more reservoirs to save the 
water running away on the surface, instead of wasting it 
to find whether water flows beneath the soil. 



CHAPTER XV. 



APICULTURE. 



Ten years ago, if asked concerning bees in Colorado, 
but one answer could be given. The chapter devoted to 
them would be like that given to the subject of Snakes 
in Ireland: ^^ There are no bees in Colorado." The one 
sentence would comprise all the facts. 

To-day, a different answer can be given to such a 
question. Apiculture is an established industry in the 
State. A recent tour through all the valley lands, m 
search of agricultural statistics, gave the author full evi- 
dence that both in Northern and Southern Colorado more 
or less attention is being paid to this pleasant and profit- 
able industry; and that, if it increased in the same ratio 
for the next ten years, at that time the market could be 
supplied with the home produce to the entire exclusion 
of that now brought from Kansas and California. I am 
inclined to believe that at least five thousand stands of 
bees, mainly Italian, are in the State; that Colorado is 
as well adapted to profitable bee-keeping as California; 
that the honey produced is fully as white, as pure and as 
sweet as any introduced into the market; that there is 
hardly a farm or a garden where bees will not thrive, and 
that the foot-hills are peculiarly adapted for extensive 
apiaries. 

One who is now a firm believer in bee-culture in 

Colorado, once said, that the apparently desert plains 

and absence of honey producing plants made quite an 

unfavorable impression on his mind in the direction of 

(157) 



158 COLORADO AS AK AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

apiarian science. Like the stockman on his first visit to 
the arid plains, who could not see grass enough to the 
acre to subsist a goose upon, he could only believe that a 
colony of bees here would soon starve to death. But his 
experience has made him change his views, and he is 
now the owner of one of the best apiaries in the State. 
He declares it to be true that millions of pounds of 
honey are left to waste their sweetness on the desert air, 
simply for want of bees to gather it. 

In the East, warm weather with occasional storms, is 
necessary to a good honey season. A continual drouth 
is fatal to the bees' harvest. Looking at Colorado from 
this point of view, it would seem as if its arid climate 
would be unfavorable. But the belief now prevails, that 
the hot days, followed so invariably by cool nights, facil- 
itate the secretion of honey in flowers and blossoms bet- 
ter than any other state of weather. In the East, days 
of drouth are usually followed by warm nights, which is 
fatal to honey prospects. Occasional showers cool the 
atmosphere, which is favorable; therefore the tempera- 
ture is of more importance than dampness. Again, con- 
tinual rains destroy the honey crop and deprive the bees 
of an opportunity to go upon the wing. Taking these 
things into consideration, we see why bees do so well in 
the dry climate of Colorado. Its hot days, followed by 
cool nights, give to Nature an abundance of sweets. 
With no prolonged rains, bees have an ample opportunity 
to improve the shining hour, which in Colorado means 
from sunrise to sunset, one day after another, week in 
and week out — as a rule. Thus it is to be seen that in- 
stead of being a poor bee country, Colorado is just the 
reverse. All that is needed to make honey an important 
item of wealth to be added to the prosperity of the State, 
is an awakened interest m the matter, and this it would 
seem is becoming more and more evident. 

In considering the profit on a single colony of bees, the 



APICULTURE. 159 

folloTving data are from a record carefully kept by Rev. 
J. S. Flory, of Longmont. He says : '^n 1878 I had 
a colony of bees sent me from Illinois. The cost, includ- 
ing a full-blooded Italian Queen, was fifteen dollars. This 
was in the fall of the year. More than enough honey was 
made to keep them over winter. During the season of 1879, 
the colony was divided once, and from the two, at the close 
of the season, a hundred pounds of nice honey were taken. 
Had an extractor been used, double the quantity would 
have been taken. In the two colonies about forty pounds 
of honey for each hive were left for them to winter on, so 
that the story of the first year is somewhat as follows: 

Cost of original colony $15 

Cost of one new hive 3 

Total outlay $18 

100 pounds of honey @ 25 cents $25 

Young Colony, worth 15 

$40 

Profit on an investment of $18 = $40 

or over two hundred per cent. 

Experience has shown that the Italian bee is the best, 
being more prolific and more hardy. It is from a climate 
somewhat similar to that of Colorado. Mr. Flory also 
gives the following directions to ensure success : 

'^A moveable comb hive. Colonies should be kept 
strong in numbers and rich in stores, in order to stimu- 
late to early breeding. Enough common sense to know 
when and how to make artificial swarms, and when to let 
these alone. Too many colonies are killed by kindness — 
too much attention. The fatal mistake with too many 
is, wanting to get along too fast. " 

It is the experience of others, that Italian bees are able 
to obtain honey from flowers that the common bee cannot 
work on, because of the difference in the length of the 
tongue, the former having the longest, thus enabling 



IGO COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

them to work common red clover, wliich the blacks can- 
not reach. 

Touching locations for large apiaries, Dr. King, of 
Boulder, considers that a sliort distance — say from two 
to six miles — inside the foot-hills, is the best; depending, 
however, upon the contour and height of the hills compris- 
ing the tirst uplifts. Where a canon or a gulch is open 
and wide, and the hills are low, a dry side gulch with a 
south-eastern exposure would be a good situation. In 
the early spring the bees go to the lowest foot-hills to 
get the earliest blooming flowers, and as the same vari- 
eties blossom at higher altitudes, they follow them up, 
and as the season advances, still keep following them up 
higher and higher. Then, as new varieties bloom below, 
they repeat the process during the entire season of bloom. 
But it is also to be said that bees do well upon the plains, 
in the valleys, and wherever land is under cultivation; 
for the face of nature here is covered from early spring 
time to late fall with flowers that afford honey in great 
abundance. Trees, wild blooms, vegetable blossoms, 
wild grasses, cleome, alfalfa, corn blossoms, all offer their 
store of sweet treasure to the ever busy bees. In consid- 
ering this source of constant supply, it is a fact of great 
importance to know, that from the 6arly part of March, 
generally, oees begin to gather pollen and honey from 
willows on southern hill sides and sunny slopes, and from 
this time to October, there are very few days that honey 
is not gathered from some source. Now contrast this 
with the season in the Eastern, Middle, or even West- 
em States, where the honey season seldom lasts three 
months, and it will be seen that Colorado is one of the 
best States in the Union for bee culture. Pasturage is 
profuse in its abundance. With the willow blossoms 
comes a species of Delphhiium, pushing its head up even 
through the snow, and covering foot-hills and plain with 
its bloom. Wild roses and red raspberries abound in the 



APICULTURE. 



161 




OLEOME, OR ROCKY MOUNTAIN BEE-PLANT. 



102 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

foot-liills. On the plains, with the willow and cotton- 
wood, comes a little weed called the *^ hog potato," grow- 
ing flat on the ground. It has a purple bloom. Then 
there are fruit blossoms and wild roses in May and June; 
milkweed and immeasurable wild flowers also appear. 
Alfalfa is in its first bloom and is favorite foraging 
ground for the busy bees. In July the wild grasses and 
the wild flowers tempt the roving fancy of the bees, while 
melon, squash, and other vines invite the winged seek- 
ers after sweets. During August and September, corn- 
tassels, alfalfa, amber cane, furnish abundant food. At 
this time, too, the prairies, in spots, are covered with 
cleome, or the Eocky Mountain bee-plant, with its wealth 
of purple flowers, in wiiich lies hidden an amount of bee 
food one little dreams of, which the bees transform into 
the choicest honey that can be found. In October, there 
grows on dry prairie land, a weed the shape and size of 
sage brush, having a yellow bloom. This is not the best 
bee food known, but is used when other things are not 
to be had. 

There is one drawback to bee culture which must be 
mentioned. It comes from too much warm, sunny 
weather in winter. This causes bees left on summer 
stands to fly out, and doing this day after day, many are 
lost and never return to the hive, and as they do not be- 
gin breeding until February, and then very slowly, the 
numbers rapidly decrease, and often the entire swarm is 
lost, from this cause. The remedy for this is a good 
cellar, well ventilated and so arranged that the tempera- 
ture can be kept at from 40° to 45° Fahrenheit. It is to 
be said, in addition, that perfect darkness and the great- 
est degree of quiet that can be secured must be main- 
tained. 

Such, then, is the present condition of Apiculture in 
Colorado. Plains, valleys, and foot-hills alike seem adapt- 
ed to success. 



APICULTUKE. 163 

If there are five thousand hives in the State at the 
present time, taking the increase from these alone, with- 
out any fresh additions from the East, as doubling each 
year, what is the outlook for the future? A little figur- 
ing will show that in a few years five million hives will be 
in Colorado. The honey problem, therefore, is as sug- 
gestive of profit as the product is of sweetness. Few so 
poor that they cannot afford one hive. Few hives but 
double each year, and also yield at least fifty pounds of 
choice honey. John Allen, in his book on the Blessed 
Bees, shows that under the most favorable conditions, 
bees increase in number very rapidly, and he cites an in- 
stance under his own observation, where three hives in- 
creased to nineteen in one season. 



CHAPTEE XVI 



FRUIT GROWING. 



Fruit growing is in its infancy in Colorado, but it 
promises to be an industry of some prominence. When 
it is known how they can be grown there will be no 
trouble to raise fruits of all kinds. It is with the horti- 
culturists of the State as it is with the child learning to 
walk. Steps are feeble and uncertain at first. There is 
an unknown quantity to master. There is doubtful 
ground to tread. The time comes when the child knows 
its own powers, and thereafter walking is no problem. 
The main difficulty in fruit growing lies in the difference 
of climate between this State and those at a lower alti- 
tude, and the application of known theories and facts 
that govern these two different conditions existing here. 
There is so much to unlearn, in horticulture as well as 
agriculture, before it can be made successful. As the 
President of the State Board of Agriculture once re- 
marked; *^The soil contains nearly all the ingredients 
necessary to produce all kinds of fruits that can be grown 
in the Northern States, and with a right knowledge of 
the way to manage fruit trees, we shall succeed in mak- 
ing this a fruit-growing State, but this knowledge can 
only be obtained by experience." 

Ten years ago, a fruit grower in Boulder County, in 
the month of April, looked over what was then an ex- 
tensive orchard for Colorado, and saw over three hundred 
peach trees, besides apple, pear, plum, and cherry trees, 
destroyed, so far as that year was concerned, by the cold, 
severe winds that swept down the valley as late as the 
(164) 



FRUIT GROWIN^G. 165 

22d of the montli. He saw, in addition, the canes of 
his raspberries, and blackberries, and the vines of his 
grapes killed to the ground. Surely such a sight would 
be enough to discourage the most ardent fruit grower. 
Mene, me7ie, tekel, upliarsin seemed written of the coun- 
try, as far as fruit was concerned. But this courageous 
man did not say so. Perhaps he recalled the fact that, 
in the early settlement of States like those of Iowa, Illi- 
nois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, ^N'ebraska, and Kansas, many 
difficulties were encountered by those who firmly believed 
that, the proper conditions secured, success would wait 
upon fruit culture, and to-day these States stand in the 
front rank of fruit producers. 

Eeturning to his sitting-room, Joseph Wolff, of Boul- 
der, wrote as follows: *'' Notwithstanding the disastrous 
results of last winter and this spring on the various kinds 
of trees and vines, there is no need for any one to be dis- 
couraged. * * * * Fruit culture in Colorado is a 
system of experimenting, and must for many years be 
largely in that condition, until experience shall determine 
what varieties to plant, the soil required, the proper 
tillage, the effect of irrigation, mulching, fertilizers, and 
other equally as important matters. Croakers should 
bear in miud that of all the trees planted, but few are 
old enough to bear fruit, and in nine cases out of ten, 
they have been planted, cared for, and tilled, in a most 
unthrifty manner. My own opinion is that Colorado will 
yet rival any of the Middle States in the production of 
fruit, and for one I propose to keep on trying until I 
succeed; not in getting a few bushels of little, knotty, 
sickly trash, but an abundance of large and luscious 
fruits of all the hardier varieties. Of the peach I have 
but little hope, but even that may be successfully pro- 
duced, when w^e know how." 

The same year, at a Farmer's Club, held in Denver, 
one of the speakers said: ^* I have twenty-five varieties of 



166 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

apples, ten of pears, five of cherries, and ten of plums. 
There were a few killed last winter, the season being the 
hardest on trees I have ever known in this countr}'. But 
I think that apples will yet be as sure a crop with us as 
wheat. Cherries will do as well, provided the right 
variety is chosen, which should be none of the kind 
called sweet." 

What was then a prophecy is fast becoming a realiza- 
tion. Yet not without many failures and discourage- 
ments and loss of time, money, and temper. At first, all 
trees were planted on the bottom lands, where heavy, 
clay soil predominates, and where it was supposed they 
would only grow. All along in the valley of Clear Creek 
and of the South Platte, in the vicinity of Denver, hun- 
dreds of trees were planted and flourished, for a time. 
As the period of fruiting grew near, it was observed that 
the tops of the trees began to die, and soon the whole 
tree showed that something was sapping its vitality. For 
awhile the cause of this was not discovered, and when it 
was found out, it was something that could not be pre- 
vented. The roots of the trees had penetrated through 
the soil, and in the sand and boulders below found no 
nourishment. 

So the work of a dozen years was brought to nought. 
A new departure was to be taken, or the attempt aban- 
doned. This, fortunately, was considered out of the 
question, and to day, on the uplands of Clear Creek 
stands an orchard of trees removed years ago from the 
bottom lands, apples from which in the fall of 1879 took 
the special premium given by the Governor of the State 
for the best collection of apples. 

The President of the Colorado State Horticultural 
Society, Mr. D. S. Grimes, may be accepted as good 
authority. In response to inquiries, he says that enough 
has been grown to demonstrate the fact beyond a doubt 
that this industry can be as successfully carried on in 



FRUIT GROWING. 167 

Colorado as in other States. From personal observation 
I am conyinced that the greatest enemy to successful 
fruit growing is the grower himself. If the people 
treated their garden and field crops as some of them do 
their trees, failure would undoubtedly follow. Wher- 
ever an honest, intelligent effort has been made, trees 
are growing, and doing well. Indeed, under fair 
treatment, it is hard to tell what varieties w^ill not suc- 
ceed. Fruit is a natural production of the country. In 
the mountains and along the rivers and creeks are found 
currants — red, black, and yellow, the last named especially 
large and excellent. Raspberries, strawberries, whortle- 
berries, June berries, are gathered from the foot of the 
mountains up to snow line. In some localities, especially 
in Fremont County, there are wild plums of larger size 
and as delicious flavor as one-half of our cultivated va- 
rieties. There are wild fruits growing in the canons of 
Colorado which, when brought to the light of cultiva- 
tion, will be jewels in the horticulture of the country. 
The soil along the mountain streams, and for miles out 
on the plains, is a rich alluvial of decomposed matter, 
brought down from the mountains, containing all the 
elements essential to tree and vegetable life. All varieties 
of fruits grown here are smooth, free from worm or in- 
sect, heavy, juicy, and of a fine flavor, a characteristic so 
marked as to enable our people to readily distinguish the 
fruit grown here from that brought from other States. 
Trees come into bearing earlier here than in the East. 
In growing, the tops incline low, producing a heavy foli- 
age, while the bark is of much lighter color than that of 
the same variety brought from the States. Our soil and 
climate exhibit many peculiarities, but I fail to see any- 
anything to hinder Colorado from becoming a great fruit- 
producing State, except failure in planting and improper 
cultivation. 

There is hardly a valley in the State where fruit is not 



108 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

grown in greater or less quantity. In the Poudre Valley 
one of the most successfal growers is Mr. J. W. Parker, 
of Greeley, who has an orchard of over two thousand ap- 
ple trees. The Ben Davis, Fameuse, Winesap, Astra- 
chan, and Dtichess of Oldenburgh, all do well with him. 
He pays especial attention to crabs, finding in Denver a 
ready market for all he can ship. His principal varieties 
are the Transcendent, Hyssop, Tetofsky, and Briar Sweet. 
He also has Flemish Beauty and Duchess de Angouleme 
pears in bearing, the Early Richmond cherry, and the 
Lombardy plum. Mr. Parker, after an experience of 
five years, believes that not only apples, but pears, plums, 
and cherries will be staple crops in years to come. He 
advises all to plant orchards, and if the grasshoppers 
come, to smoke them out; if the Blister-beetle troubles 
them, administer Paris Green; destroy the ants, kill the 
gophers. In a word, take care of the orchard, and some 
day not very far distant, cider will be sold at ten cents a 
gallon in Colorado. 

The entire valley of the Cache-la-Poudre, from the 
canon where it empties into the Platte, is becoming dotted 
with small orchards. Hardly a farmer but what is set- 
ting out trees. Some will succeed. Some will fail. 
The one, because he gives good care and careful cul- 
ture, the other because he gives indifferent care and care- 
less culture. One will say that fruit will grow, and 
show with pride his apple-bearing trees and his loaded 
grape vines; the other will say that fruit will not grow, 
and point to worm-eaten trees and blasted vine as proof 
of his assertion. 

As in this valley, so in the St. Vrain, the Boulder, 
Big Thompson, Ralston, and the other valleys in North- 
ern Colorado. Mr. J. S. Flory, of Longmont, wrote as 
follows, in the fall of 1879, regarding his orchard in the 
valley of the St. Vrain: *^If the most skeptical could see 
my orchard, they would conclude that apples, pears, and 



FRUIT GROWING. 169 

peaches can be successfully raised in Northern Colorado. 
The spring was very unfavorable for fruit, all the early 
bloom being killed, yet some of my apple trees are so 
loaded with fruit, that I am under the necessity of tying 
and propping up some of the limbs. The Duchess of 
Oldenburg and Fall Stripe are as nice apples as one wishes 
to see. They seem to come to i^erfection in every respect. 
The Early Richmond cherry bears abundantly. As to 
grapes, every vine is loaded, and it is true, as has been 
said, ' it is as easy to raise grapes as squashes, when you 
know how.' What kills three-fourths of the trees is the 
warm winters, in which the hot rays of the sun beat 
upon the south-west side of the trunk of the tree, heat- 
ing it and starting the sap; then, at night a severe frost 
coming, the tree is ruined." 

While it is shown that fruit can be grown very success- 
fully in Northern Colorado, I am inclined to believe that 
the best region lies south of the Divide, and on the 
western slope, in the valleys of Gunnison County, 
where a warmer climate, a sandier soil, and a longer 
season prevails. In the Arkansas Valley, on this side of 
the main range, and the Grand Valley with its numer- 
ous tributaries in Western Colorado, lies the Eden 
of the horticulturist of the next and succeeding gen- 
erations. 

The varieties positively adapted to the climate of North- 
ern Colorado, cannot be definitely given. Those that 
have been tested and found to thrive, can be named. 
The Farmer's Institute, held at Fort Collins, in the win- 
ter of 1880-81, named the following as best adapted to 
that region : — 

Summer varieties: Red Astrachan, and Duchess of 
Oldenburg. Winter varieties: Ben Davis, White Water, 
Pearmain, Genitan, Wagner, and Jonathan. Others 
might be named, that have succeeded with some. Such 
as the Early Red, Sweet Bough, and Golden Sweeting, 



170 COLOEADO AS A>T AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

for Slimmer; the Maiden's Blush, and the Limber Twig, 
for autumn; the Roxbury Riissett, for winter. In cher- 
ries, the English Morellos. In pears, the Bartlett for 
summer, Flemish Beauty for autumn, Vicar of Wakefield 
for winter. In plums, Colorado ought to take front rank 
as a producer. Here they are entirely free from the Cur- 
culio, and are only injured by hail storms. They grow 
wild in the canons and among the foot-hills; they 
flourish to perfection when transplanted to the plains. 
To give a list of varieties would be to name, almost, all 
those contained in the catalogues. In peaches, the Ams- 
den, Crawford's Early and Late, and Hale's Early, have 
been grown, but not to any encouraging extent. The 
Peach of Colorado has not yet been born, or, if born, is 
yet in swaddling clothes, and has not been brought to 
the baptismal font for naming. 

In Southern Colorado, more especially in the Arkansas 
Valley, apple and grape culture are receiving the exclu- 
sive attention of many persons. In the neighborhood 
of Canon City there are orchards that have produced 
heavily for years. At Florence, is a twenty-acre apple 
orchard, ten of them in bearing, probably the largest in 
the State. The soil of the valley is of an adobe character, 
full of limestone, and seems peculiarly adapted to apple 
culture. Anson Rudd, and W. A. Helm, of Canon City, 
have fruit gardens that would delight the eye of the hor- 
ticulturist. Mr. Rudd commenced planting as early as 
1864, meeting with but little success, but now an orchard 
of two hundred trees rewards his patience, perseverance, 
and faith. His trees grow low, many of the branches, 
when the fruit is on them, bending to the very ground. 
He applies salt in abundance, believing that too much 
cannot be scattered on the soil about the trunks of the 
trees. Besides apples, he has been successful in raising 
pears, peaches, quinces, and grapes. Concerning the 
future of fruit he is very sanguine, believing that the 



FRUIT GROWING. 171 

entire Arkansas Valley will be filled with orchards within 
the next ten years. 

W. A. Helm, of the same place, began planting in 1867; 
he has not so large a number of trees, but in variety they 
are unequalled in the State. His favorites are the Red 
Astrachan, Winesap, and Genitan. Of pears he grows 
the Duchess, Bartlett, and Quince Pear, and has no 
question but that this delicious fruit is admirably adapt- 
ed to the Arkansas Valley. He has two apricot trees in 
bearing, as well as black walnuts, mulberries, and persim- 
mons, while hazel bushes profitably occupy a corner of his 
garden. Of grapes, he has the Concord and other East- 
ern varieties, but is giving special attention to three or 
four California varieties, which he thinks will do well in 
Colorado. The Eose of Peru, a black, and the Muscatel, 
Sweet Water, and White Chasselas, all white, are kinds 
he has had in bearing for the last five years, and thinks 
they will do well, at least in Southern Colorado. The 
Salem is his favorite of the Eastern varieties. 

Mr. Jesse Frazier's twenty acre Apple orchard is at 
Florence, ten miles east of Canon City, on the Leadville 
branch of the Denver and Rio Grande railway, and is 
visible to travellers on the trains that daily pass up and 
down the valley. He has fully one hundred varieties, 
among which maybe mentioned the Ben Davis, Winesap, 
Genitan, Jonathan, Golden Russett, Red Astrachan, 
Duchess of Oldenburg, and Bailey's Sweet. He gives 
preference to the following: 

Summer Apples, 

Jeffries, Duchess of Oldenburg, Early Harvest, Red 
Astrachan. 

Fall Apples, 

Cole's Quince, Sweet Pear, Jonathan, Fameuse or 
Snow Apple. 



172 colorado as an^ agricultuhal state. 

Winter Apples, 

Ben Davis, Winesap, Willow Twig, Rawle's Genitan. 
It will be noticed that everywhere the Ben Davis is set 
in tlie front rank as a safe apple to grow in Colorado. 
Thus, in both Northern and Southern Colorado, proofs 
are accumulating that the State has within it the germs 
of success in fruit growing, and within a few years will 
begin to supply the demand from home orchards. The 
green fruit trade of Denver is enormous. The sales 
amount to nearly a million dollars yearly. Five hundred 
car-loads is a low estimate of the amount of California 
and Eastern fruit brought into the markets of the State. 
Concerning the Small Fruits, as they are termed, they 
are becoming quite abundant. Hundreds of acres in the 
immediate vicinity of Denver are in grapes, currants, 
gooseberries, raspberries, blackberries, and strawberries. 
The profits are enormous, especially from strawberries. 
The wholesale price of small fruits in Denver during the 
last season, was as follows: 

Per Quart. 

Strawberries 25 cents. 

Blackberries 35 cents. 

Red raspberries 50 cents. 

Black cap 35 cents. 

Currants 25 cents. 

Gooseberries 20 cents. 

The cost of cultivatinfic one acre of strawberries is 
about fifty dollars. Water costs two dollars per cubic 
inch, and two inches is sufiicient to water an acre of 
berries. It costs three cents per quart for picking, and 
about two cents for boxing and preparing for market. A 
yield of eighteen hundred quarts can be taken from one 
acre. The entire cost of cultivation and placing uj^on 
the market is not over one hundred and fifty dollars, 
leaving a net profit of three hundred dollars per acre. 
All kinds do well, but need high and close cultivation, 
bearing for five years before they require to be renewed. 



\ 



CHAPTEK XVII. 



QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. 

During a residence of more than twelve years in 
Colorado, mainly m the agricultural sections, and having 
had much to do with the founding and establishment of 
farming towns, it has been my fortune to answer many 
questions concerning the State. By grouping a few of 
these together, there can be given, in brief space, much 
information that will prove extremely useful to those 
who have it on their minds to make Colorado their home, 
but who have not, as yet, broken loose from their old 
associations : 

Are there any Government lands to be had? 

Yes, but very little, if any, under canals that are built, 
or close to any settled communities. 

Where can these lands be found? 

Mainly in Southern Colorado, in the valleys of the 
Arkansas and Rio Grande del Norte, in the valleys of the 
Uncompahgre, the Gunnison, and the Grand, in West- 
ern Colorado, and along streams tributary to these rivers. 

Can a man without means enter upon Government 
lands with a hope of making a home easily and early? 

No. And yet this can be qualified by the statement 
that men have done so; but they were single men, and 
could submit to the worst kind of roughing. It would 
be criminal for a man, with a wife and children depend- 
ent upon his labor for their daily bread, to attempt w^hat 
an unencumbered man might reasonably do ^^in chanc- 
ing success." 
(173) 



17-i COLOllADO AS A]^ AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

How much money ought a young man to have? 

A young man with three hundred dollars in his pos- 
session, when he reaches Colorado, can easily secure a 
foothold, and eventually become a land owner. 

How much ought a married man to have? 

If with a small family, he should have at least Hvc 
hundred dollars. With an economic management, in-doors 
and out, this will secure land, a cabin, and subsistence 
for the first six months. 

What is the best time to come? 

In the fall, for the preparatory work of moving, get- 
ting settled, and preparing for spring work should not 
be put off until the sowing season comes. 

How early does the season open? 

Some years as early as February plowing can be done. 

What kind of land should one get? 

This is a question not easily answered. If a home- 
stead can be secured in the immediate vicinity of a grow- 
ing town, or with railroad facilities for shipping produce 
to distant points, within reach of schools, churches, and 
social privileges, the question answers itself. But there 
are few such homesteads to be had, except by purchase 
from some one already occupymg the land. 

How about railroad lands? 

There are but little, if any, now to be had from the 
railroad companies. Most of the available arable land 
unsold has, within the last two years, been contracted to 
companies formed for the purpose of constructing and 
operating irrigation canals. These hold the land, of 
course, at a higher rate of valuation than did the rail- 
road com^^anies. Still, present prices are not exorbi- 
tant, and intending farmers can easily do worse than 
purchase such lands. 

Is water absolutely essential? 

Yes. Without it, Colorado is a desert. With it. 



questio:n-s aitd ai^-swees. 175 

an Eden exists again, on the slopes of the Rocky Moun- 
tains. 

How are the winter months? 

Usually, mild, compared with the same latitude on the 
Atlantic Coast. We get the benefit of the ocean cur- 
rents of the Pacific, and the influence of the soft, mild 
westerly winds which prevail in the winter, coming from 
that warm ocean. Sometimes the mercury, in February, 
runs as high as seventy degrees in the shade. The snows 
in winter are generally light. 

Are there ever any severe snow storms? 

Yes. x\nd they come when they are least expected. 

When is that? 

In the months of March, April, and May. 

Are the summers extremely warm? 

In the middle of the day, in the months of June, July, 
and August, it is yery warm. But in the shade there is 
always a refreshing coolness, while the nights invite to 
sleep as deep as it is invigorating. 

What is the amount of rain fall per annum? 

It may be set down at about twelve inches, or one-third 
of the mean precipitation on the surface of the globe. 
Three-fourths of this falls in the early spring months, 
securing the germination of grain without irrigation, and 
the annual growth of grasses upon the prairies, on which 
such vast herds of cattle grow fat. 

Do you have high winds? 

Yes. What would you think of an ocean, whose 
waters were never in motion? What kind of a country 
would it be where the air never circulated, but remained 
motionless? But there are no tornadoes, like those 
in the tropics, and while the whirlwinds which devas- 
tate Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri, may have their birth in 
the hills of Colorado, they go out while they are young 
and innocent of harm. In the heavier atmosphere, miles 
below the altitude of the foot-hills, they may get obstrep- 



17G COLORADO AS AN" AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

erous and behave badly. In the spring months, especially 
when the winter has been open and mild, winds prevail, 
and are, to say the least, annoying — *^only this and noth- 
ing more." 

What is the general nature of the soil? 

A sandy loam predominates, though a stiff clay is oc- 
casionally met with. It is very easy to work, and only 
requires common attention to return a thousand fold. 

What can be raised in Colorado? 

Almost everything. Wheat, corn, oats, barley, rye, 
amber cane, vegetables of all sorts, fruits of nearly every 
kind common to our latitude. In fact, whatever is raised 
in Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, or Ne- 
braska, can be raised in Colorado. 

What is the average yield of the principal products? 

Wheat, twenty-two bushels; Oats, forty; Eye, twenty; 
Barley, thirty; Potatoes, one hundred and twenty. These 
are low figures, and are likely to rate one-third higher. 
It is no uncommon thing to find an eighty-acre field of 
wheat running forty bushels to the acre. 

Do you get good prices for your i^roducts? 

Yes. There have been years when low rates prevailed, 
as they have done elsewhere. But Colorado is so rapidly 
filling up with settlers, the majority of whom are non- 
producers, that everything the farmer can produce will 
bring him a good price. At the time this chapter is 
prepared, wheat rates at one dollar and fifty cents per 
hundred pounds; corn, one dollar and seventy-five cents; 
oats, two dollars and ten cents; potatoes, two dollars and 
twenty-five cents; onions, two dollars and fifty cents; 
cabbages, one dollar and fifty cents. 

What about Dairying? 

Parts of Colorado are eminently adapted for dairying, 
of which there is little, as yet. Inside the ^' foot-hills," 
as the most easterly tier of low hills is called, are small 
parks that are sheltered and extremely favorable. The 



QUESTIONS AiN^D AKSWERS. 177 

" Divide" is a stretch of country with an altitude of 
from six thousand to seven thousand feet above the level 
of the sea, running for thirty miles in an easterly direc- 
tion from the mountains, lying between the South Platte 
and Arkansas Rivers. This region is to be the great 
dairy region of Colorado. Its resources are abundant and 
extremely nutritious grasses; a plentiful supply of water in 
the shape of springs and brooks; a cool summer climate, 
rendering it possible to make as good butter and cheese 
in summer as in fall. 

Are there any cheese factories? 

Two or three; there should be two or three dozen. 

What do butter and cheese brinsf? 

From twenty to thirty cents in summer, from thirty 
to forty cents in winter. Cheese retails at twenty-five 
cents per pound. 

Are the markets certain? 

Yes. The mines furnish a very profitable market, and 
towns are springing up in every direction. These people 
must be fed. Not one-third of the supply is raised in 
the State. California and Utah send potatoes, honey, 
and fruits. Kansas and Nebraska send wheat, hay, oats, 
and corn. Millions of dollars go out of the State each 
year, for grain, and produce, and feed, that ought to be 
raised at home. 

How do prices compare with those in the East? 

Not unfavorably. Clothing, building material, dry 
goods, are a little higher, perhaps, than in the far East- 
ern States. In the mining camps prices rule above those 
that prevail in the country towns on the line of the great 
thoroughfares. 

Do you burn wood or coal? 

Coal, mainly, in all the farming towns. In the foot- 
hills and mining camps, wood. Coal of excellent quality 
ranges from four dollars to six dollars per ton. 

The preceding questions will cover a multitude of points 



178 COLORADO AS AN" AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

about which great ignorance prevails. They are the 
minidicB of practical interest to the new settler who 
wisely ' ^ counts the cost " before he ventures into un- 
known lands. A chapter devoted to these details has 
some value, if the facts as stated can be relied upon. 
For this, the reader has the author's pledge that, 
intentionally, no false statement is made. Colorado is 
settling up fast enough without having to miscolor or 
misrepresent. Its advantages are so numerous that 
there is no need to go beyond the boundary of actual 
fact. 



CHAPTER XVIII 



COLORADO AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 

Ifc may not be out of place to present a brief account 
of an institution in which the farmers of Colorado have 
a special interest, and one in whose success all the citizens 
of the State will share. The State Agricultural College, 
located at Fort Collins, Larimer County, was opened in 
1879, its doors swinging wide to all who desire admit- 
tance, offering opportunities for education in the indus- 
trial branches of learning which cannot fail to prove 
beneficial. Gov. F. W. Pitkin, in his last message to 
the Legislature, recommending an appropriation in ad- 
dition to the regular State tax, used the following lan- 
guage: ^^The farmers of the State have not, as a gen- 
eral thing, the time or the means to carry on experi- 
ments on a large scale. They are compelled to produce 
a crop annually for the support of their families, and can- 
not make tests of many varieties of seeds and different 
methods of cultivation, when they know that a majority 
of these experiments must be conducted at a loss. The 
object of the College is to have these experiments carried 
on under the supervision of a person specially educated 
for the purpose, that the test maybe conducted intel- 
ligently and under the most favorable conditions, and 
that the results obtained may be accurate and entitled to 
the confidence of the farming community. These results 
are not only given to the public through printed reports 
and newspapers, but they are witnessed by the pupils of 
the College who assist in the labor, and through them 
(179) 



180 COLORADO AS AK AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

the different portions of the State from which they 
come are directly benefited. Tiie College affords op- 
portunities for its students to obtain a thorough educa- 
tion in the sciences and mathematics, and also in sci- 
entific farming, and at the same time brings to the 
knowledge of agricultural communities many new facts, 
by which their business may be more profitably con- 
ducted." 

The College was organized in accordance with the 
provisions of the act of Congress of 1862, by which lands 
were granted to the amount of thirty thousand acres 
for each Senator and Eepresentative in Congress for the 
endowment, support and maintenance of at least one 
college, where the leading object shall be to teach such 
branches of learning as are related to agriculture and 
the mechanic arts, in order to promote the liberal and 
practical education of the industrial classes in the several 
pursuits and professions of life. 

The leading object of the Institution — to use the oflB- 
cial language of the Faculty — is to impart a thorough 
and practical knowledge of all the branches and sciences 
that pertain to agriculture. Its course of study differs 
from that of a University, in the absence of a classical 
department, and in the greater attention given to those 
studies in the scientific course that pertain to agriculture 
and the arts. It differs also in the fact that it em- 
bodies with this liberal course of study, practical train- 
ing in the work of the farm, its students being required 
to spend at least two hours of each day in labor under 
the direction of their instructors. Although this labor 
is in the direct line of their studies, they are paid for it 
at so much per hour. This manual labor is held to 
be beneficial, by the financial aid it gives to the student; 
by instructions in method of work; by the health derived 
from regular, moderate exercise, and by the correct 
ideas imparted as to the dignity and importance of labor. 



COLORADO AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 181 

The College is a State Institution, and is supported by 
the State. Its doors are therefore open, free to all with 
certain limitations as to age and adyancement, neces- 
sary in the conduct of such a school. 

It is to be seen from this that the Colorado Agri- 
cultural College is not a literary school, masquerading 
under the convenient title given to it, nor is it, on the 
other hand, merely a manual labor school. Its aim is 
to combine labor and science, in such a way, that one 
shall aid and strengthen the other. The labor must be 
accompanied by knowledge, the knowledge must be aided 
by labor. The education imparted is of the head and 
hand, and in proportion to the proper training of them, 
of the heart also. It is deemed better for health, mind, 
and for morals as well, that education should be thus 
broad and liberal. 

The Department of Experimental Agriculture is of the 
utmost importance to the farmers of the State. When 
success results, it will benefit them; when failure ensues, it 
will save them from loss of time, labor, and expense. 
Here the new grains can be grown and reported upon. 
Here new methods of irrigation may be examined and 
experimented with. Here the new varieties in field and 
garden seeds can first be shown worthy of the farmer's 
attention, or discarded. The importance of this depart- 
ment, carefully conducted, will be of immense value in 
a State, where old rules and familiar methods of farm- 
ing do not apply. 

The complete course of instruction includes a prepar- 
atory year, and a four year's collegiate course. The 
student is not absolutely required to follow this course, 
but is allowed to select his studies. Graduation confers 
the degree of Bachelor of Science. Tuition is free to 
all students, but there is a matriculation fee of five 
dollars, and an incidental fee of one dollar, at the be- 
ginning of each term, which entitle the student to the 



182 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

privileges of the v/liole course. There is a dormitory 
attached to the College, and board is provided for those 
who wish it. In this home the student is boarded at 
cost, which amounts to about three dollars per week. 
The College is supplied with the leading scientific and 
literary publications of the day, to which the students 
have free access. 

Institutes conducted by the Faculty, are held during the 
winter at different points through the State. These ses- 
sions are attended by the farmers in the immediate vicin- 
ity. Papers are read by the President, the Professors in 
charge of departments, by members of the Board of 
Trustees, and by some of the farmers, upon topics con- 
nected with the soil. Valuable papers are thus procured 
for general circulation, on corn, wheat, alfalfa, hay, po- 
tatoes, amber cane, fruit, floriculture, the apiary, irriga- 
tion, fertilizing, rotation of crops, stock raising, dairying, 
poultry, and the economies of the farm. Discussions upon 
each topic generally follow the reading of the paper, which 
are spirited, and bring out many important statements. 

There is a Nursery connected with the farm, where the 
various forest and fruit trees are growing. The surplus 
products of the farm or of fruit trees and plants deemed 
worthy of more extended trial, are to be distributed in 
various parts of the State for further experiments, and 
the results announced for the general good. 

The Faculty consists of C. L. Ingersoll, President and 
Professor of Logic and Political Economy; A. E. Blount, 
A.M., Professor of Agriculture and Botany; Charles F. 
Davis, B.S., Professor of Chemistry and Physics; F. H. 
Williams, Professor of Practical Mechanics and Drawing. 
The fall term commences in September and ends in De- 
cember. The winter term begins in January, and ends 
late in March. The spring term commences early m 
April and closes in June. These three terms compose 
the year. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



FARMING JOURNALS. 



The existence of newspapers in farming communities 
is a good indication of the intelligence of the people. 
The number and excellence of the valley journals in Col- 
orado, is really surprising. In towns and villages of tiie 
East, where the home paper is but feebly supported, and 
continues from year to year barely sustaining itself, it 
would seem as if the people took no pride in the medium 
through which their special locality is made known to the 
outside world. In Colorado, it is just the reverse. 
Hardly a town of any account but has its representative 
press. Some farming communities sustain their two and 
three newspapers. These are supported with pride, 
copies are sent abroad to friends, and the patronage given 
is in no stinted measure. A list of these journals will 
have a positive value to those who desire to obtain in- 
formation concerning the region which they represent; 
hence they are given here as being part and parcel with 
matters touching the farming interests of the State. 
Only those are named that represent agricultural com- 
munities; and sample copies can probably be had by those 
desiring them, simply by addressing the publishers. 

*^The Colorado Farmer and Live Stock Journal" is 
the only strictly agricultural paper in the State. It is 
published at Denver, and is devoted to the agricultural 
and pastoral interests of the eastern slope of the Eocky 
Mountains, including Wyoming, Colorado, and New 
Mexico. Price per annum, $2.00. 
(183) 



184 COLORADO AS AJ^^ AGRICULTUEAL STATE. 

*^The Tribune," Greeley, $2.00 per annum. "The 
Sun," Greeley, $2.00. These two journals represent the 
farming region of the lower Cache-la-Poudre Valley. 

"The Journal," Evans, Weld County, $2.00 per an- 
num. This paper circulates among the farmers on the 
South Platte, from the Cache-la-Poudre up to the county 
line, including Platteville, Fort Lupton, and Erie. 

At Fort CoUins there are two journals, " The Express" 
and "The Courier." Each is $2.00 per annum. They 
are the representative organs of the upper portion of the 
Caehe-la-Poudre Valley, in Larimer County. 

"The Keporter" is published at Loveland, in the 
same county, in the district through which the Big 
Thompson and Little Thompson streams run. Per year 
$2.00. The town of Berthoud is in this district. 

At Longmont, Boulder County, the center of the St. 
Vrain farming interests, there is published " The Press " 
and " The Ledger," each $2.00. Also the " Home Mir- 
ror," a monthly, mainly designed for eastern circulation. 
Price, 50 cts. 

At Boulder, in the same county, three journals are 
published. "The News-Courier," "The Banner," and 
"The Herald." Each $2.00 per annum. These repre- 
sent the region including Left Hand, Boulder, South 
Boulder, and Coal Creek Valleys. 

Golden, in Jefferson County, has two papers, "The 
Transcript," and "The Globe." Each $2.00 per an- 
num. These are the exponents of the farming valle3^s of 
Ralston, Clear Creek, and Bear Creek. 

The Divide has one representative paper, " The Jour- 
nal," published at Castle Rock, Douglas County, at $1.50 
per year. It includes Elbert County as well, and is the 
official organ of both counties. 

El Paso County has " The Gazette," and "The Repub- 
lic," both published at Colorado Springs. The first issues 
a daily and a weekly edition, at $10.00 and $2.00 per year. 



FARMIN^G JOURNALS. 185 

The second is a weekly only, at 81.50 per annum. These 
represent the southern slope of the Divide, Monument, 
and Fontaine-qui-Bouille Valleys, as well as the famous 
watering town of Manitou, the Saratoga of the Eocky 
Mountains. 

The Arkansas Valley is well represented in journalism. 
Bent County, on the extreme east, has at West Las An- 
imas, '^ The Leader," representing the stock and agri- 
cultural interests of the county, and of South-eastern 
Colorado. $2.00 per annum. At Pueblo, the next 
county west, **The Chieftain " issues a daily edition at 
$10.00, and a mammoth weekly, at 13.00 per annum. 
** The Commercial Standard," weekly, 12.00 per year, is 
also published here. These are published in the old 
town, as it is called. In South Pueblo, '* The News " is 
published daily, at $10.00 per year. These represent 
the interests of the Arkansas Valley and its tributaries, 
the St. Charles, Huerfano, and Apishpa Creeks. 

Fremont County has, at Canon City, ^' The Eecord," 
and '^ The Eeporter," weekly, at $2.00 per year. Among 
the tributaries of the Arkansas, in this county, are Cur- 
rant, Grape, Cottonwood, and Oil Creeks. Florence, the 
great fruit-growing section is in this district. 

Custer County has, at Eosita, ** The Sierra Journal," 
weekly, at $2. 00 per annum. Wet Mountain Valley, with 
its extensive meadow lands, lies in this county. 

Still following up the Arkansas, at Buena Vista, in 
Chaffee County, is published "The Times," and "The 
Herald," each weekly, at $3.00 per annum. Though 
mining industries flourish in this vicinity as well as at 
Eosita, there is considerable farming done in the neigh- 
borhood, warranting their being included in this list. 

Las Animas County, in the extreme south-eastern part 
of the State, has, at Trinidad, on the Purgatoire Eiver, 
two daily journals, "The Times," and "The News," 
each issuing a weekly also; the first at $10.00 per year. 



J8G COLORADO AS AN^ AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

the last at $1.00 per year. The Purgatoire Valley, and 
the Apishpa, are in this county, and in each farming is 
a permanent industry, though the stock interests are 
yery large. 

Crossing the Sangre de Christo Pass, in Costilla 
County, there is no point of sufficient prominence for a 
newspaper. In Sagauche County, at Sagauche, ^'The 
Chronicle" is published weekly, at $3.00 per annum. 
It is the exponent of the upper part of San Luis Park, 
including Sagauche and San Luis Valleys, with their 
numerous tributaries. 

The upper end of the Rio Grande Valley has, at Del 
Norte, two weekly journals devoted to its interests, in 
*'The Prospector," at ^53.00 per annum; and ''The 
Cactus," at the same price. State lands, unoccupied, 
abound in this section; but the agricultural interests are 
also large. 

Further down, on the Rio Grande River, in Conejos 
County, is published ''The Independent," at Alamosa, 
$3.00 per year. The Conejos, La Jara, Alamosa, and 
other tributaries to the Rio Grande, course through this 
section. 

La Plata County, in the south-west corner of the 
State, has in it such valleys as Florida, Hermosa, Los 
Pinos, Dolores, the Animas, and others, and at Durango, 
*' The Record " is published daily and weekly. The lat- 
ter is a mammoth eight-page sheet, at 83.00, giving gen- 
eral agricultural information of the charming valleys in 
its vicinity. 

In Gunnison County, on the lands of the late Ute Res- 
ervation, at Montrose, is published "The Messenger," 
an exponent of the wonderful resourses of the Uncom- 
pahgre Valley, $3.00 per annum. 

To the foregoing list might be added a number of pa- 
pers, especially those published in what is known as the 
San Juan country, which give farming items, from their 



FAKMIis^G JOURITALS. 187 

neighborhood. But as these points are not strictly agri- 
cultural centers the papers referred to cannot properly 
be included in our list. Those given, show conclusive- 
ly that the farming population of Colorado is also a 
reading one, and can safely challenge comparison with 
towns in the East, and communities that count their age 
by scores of years, while of these but few can show the be- 
ginning of a second decade. 



CHAPTER XX. 



CATTLE AND SHEEP. 



A single chapter devoted to the cattle and sheep inter- 
ests of Colorado must suffice, since these industries, 
though indirectly belonging to the economies of the farm, 
in this State are distinct and separate from agriculture. 
There are about one million head of cattle, with a value 
of at least fifteen million dollars, showing that the busi- 
ness must be extensive. The mildness of the climate, 
the vast grazing grounds on the plains, the ranges in the 
mountain parks and valleys, all tend to make cattle 
growing profitable as well as pleasant. It is said that 
all the good ranges are occupied, and this is probably 
true of the eastern side of the State, of the Wet Moun- 
tain Valley, and perhaps San Luis Park. But in the 
vast territory comprised in North Park, and the country 
beyond the main range in Western Colorado, through 
which the Grand and other streams course, there is much 
vacant territory, to be eventually occupied by cattle. 

Wherever water can be obtained, a ranche and a range 
beyond it are apt to be found, in all the gently undulat- 
ing prairie land stretching eastward from the foot-hills to 
the boundary line of the State. 

Concerning the grasses of the plains, they are of 
three kinds: the Gramma grass, growing about ten 
inches high, in a single round stock, with two heads to 
it. Then comes the Buffalo grass, growing about four 
inches high, which is curly in its character, and lies 
close to the ground. Then Bunch grass, which keeps 
(188) 



CATTLE AND SHEEP. 189 

green at the roots nearly all winter. On these, cattle 
and sheep — unless the winter season is extraordinarily 
severe — subsist all the year round. The Loco Weed, for 
whose eradication a State bounty is provided by statute, 
is somewhat troublesome in early spring, it being the 
first to put forth the green leaves so eagerly sought for. 

In Northern Colorado, Weld and Arapahoe are coun- 
ties in which cattle predominate. South of the Divide, 
Bent, Las Animas, Elbert, and Pueblo counties return 
the largest number. Weld, Larimer, and Arapahoe 
also sustain large sheep interests. Southern Colorado, 
in which the largest number are kept seems to be 
best suited to cattle. Of late years, improved stock, 
both of cattle and sheep, have been introduced. No one 
special breed can be named. Herefords, Shorthorns, 
Devons, Jerseys, each have their champions who believe 
their favorite breed to be the one best adapted to the 
country. But the fact is, all do well, and amply repay 
investments made in them. 

There exists in the State a Board of Cattle Inspectors, 
created by law. Two Stock Associations are in existence, 
one with headquarters at Denver, the other at Pueblo. 
Each hold annual sessions for the discussion of mutual 
interests. There are sixteen *^ round-up" districts, gov- 
erned by well-defined rules and regulations. In the 
spring occurs the *^ round-up," when all the cattle spread 
over the various grazing tracts of country are drawn to- 
gether in one herd and, with their increase, separated 
and taken to the ranges occupied by the different owners. 
Herds of improved cattle sell at from fifteen dollars to 
twenty-five dollars per head, according to grade. The best 
way to get into the business in Eastern and Southern Col- 
orado, is to buy a ranche, a range, and a herd at one time. 

The methods and profits of Cattle Eaising in Colorado 
may be grouped together as follows, and are gathered 
from reliable sources: 



190 COLORADO AS AJ^ AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

To arriye at a clearer understanding of the method of 
stock raising it will be well to consider briefly the three 
systems of running cattle now in vogue. 

First — Loose herding. This is the system of the Texas 
frontier, and is generally practised by stock raisers who 
have emigrated from that State. The cattle are turn- 
ed loose ou the range, with those of other owners, and 
a sufficient number of men are employed to guard the 
outskirts of the range. No attempt at an actual count 
of the cattle is made from year to year, but the owner 
arrives at the probable increase by the number of calves 
lie brands at the annual ^^rounding-up " of all the cattle 
on the range in the spring, and at the * ^ rounding-up " of 
beef cattle in the fall. It is claimed that cattle thrive 
better in this way, and the cost of managing them by 
such a system is small; but the loss by straying and steal- 
ing is not light, and to Eastern men, at least, it would 
be very unsatisfactory. 

Second — Close herding. This system provides a suffi- 
cient number of men and horses to keep a given number 
of cattle within certain boundaries, and to keep an accu- 
rate account of them. It is the method adopted by 
many stock raisers having small herds, who came to the 
State from the Middle and Western States, and who have 
in large part preferred to run a better class of cattle, and 
occupy less range. The expenses are comparatively light ; 
two men at a salary of thirty dollars a month, each, with 
six or eight ponies, can profitably manage five hundred 
head of cattle. 

Third — Wire-fence enclosures. This system, now be- 
ing introduced quite extensively, provides a wire-fenced 
enclosure for the herd, thus keeping the cattle within 
fixed boundaries, and dispensing with the service of sev- 
eral employes in the management of a large herd. While 
each of the two first-mentioned systems has its peculiar 
advantages, it is believed that the wire-fence plan will 



CATTLE A2^D SHEEP. 191 

ultimately become the most popular, and it is upon tliis 
basis tiiat the following tabulated statement has been 
made. By it, one man, with three horses, and the as- 
sistance of several extra hands at the sprinsr brandins: — 
which each system requires — can care for five hundred 
head of cattle. But against economy in management 
we must take into account the interest on the money re- 
quired to build the necessary length of fence, calculat- 
ing ten acres to the animal, and the cost of the fence at 
one hundred and forty dollars per mile. 

In the followiog table a mixed herd of five hundred 
head of cattle of different ages has been taken as the 
basis of calculating, experience haying shown such a herd 
to be, taking everything into consideration, the best in- 
vestment. The stock raiser in this way receives a more 
immediate return on his capital, not having so long to 
wait for the growth of marketable steers — usually three- 
year-olds, past — as where all cows are chosen for a com- 
mencement. Aside from this, it is more difficult and 
expensive to purchase a herd composed exclusively of one 
class. 

Let us say, the stock raiser makes a purchase in Sep- 
tember of a herd composed exclusively of one class. 

CAPITAL INVESTED IN STOCK. 

150 yonnj^ cows, and calves, @ $15 $2,250 00 

100 two-year-old heifers, @ §12 1,200 00 

100 two-year-old steers, @ $12 1,200 00 

75 yearling heifers, @ $7 525 00 

75 yearling steers, @ $7 5:5 00 

10 high-grade bulls, @ 75 750 00 

Total for herd 86,450 00 

CAPITAL INVESTED IN RANCHE, ETC. 

Seventeen miles of wire fence, enclosing, approxi- 

malely, ten thousand acres $2,380 00 

Ranche, corrals, etc 250 00 

Horses and equipments £50 00 

Total $2,880 00 



192 



COLORADO AS A:N" AGRICULTURAL STATE. 







SUMMARY 


OF ACCOUNT FOR 


FIVE TI 


3ARS. 




Year. 


Stock. 


Value. 


Sales, Tliree-ymr-old Steers. 


Expemes. \ B'k Acc't. 


1 

2 

s'.'.'.'.'. 

4 

5 


530 

655 

8>2 

1,063 

1,321 


$ 7,140 00 

8,4^5 00 

11,200 00 

14,620 00 

18,477 50 


100 @ ^18 00.. 

75 @ 18 00.. 

60(6^ 18 00.. 
100 (^ 22 50.. 
130 @ 22 50.. 


..81,800 
.. 1,350 
.. 1,080 
.. 2,250 
.. 2,925 


% 680 00 

750 00 

850 00 

1,100 00 

1,000 00 


$1,120 00 

600 00 

i.-30 00 

1,150 00 

1,42.3 00 



Total bank account $4,525 00 

Value of stock $18,477 50 

Bank account 4,5.25 00 



Total $,:3,002 50 

Capital invested $0,450 00 

Profit in five years $16,552 50 

In the above table the increase of cattle has been reck- 
oned at eighty-five per cent., allowing five per cent, of 
loss from natural causes, making a net increase of eighty 
per cent. ; but on the grown cattle no estimate of loss has 
been made. There would be loss, doubtless, but in the 
wire-fence enclosure this would be entirely from natural 
causes, and very light. The estimate of eighty per cent. 
net increase of young cattle is, in this country, as all 
stockmen A\^ell know, rather below the average, and as it 
w^ould tend to complicate the tables to account for this 
slight loss on the grown stock, it has seemed best to work 
them out as above, thus making them simple, and as accu- 
rate as it is possible for such an estimate to be. The im- 
provement of the stock bred from fine bulls has been 
reckoned at twenty-five per cent. In estimating expenses 
the services of one man at forty dollars a month, with 
several extra hands to assist in branding, etc. , have been 
taken into account, together with the cost of feed for 
the horses and keeping up the requisite number of bulls. 
No allowance has been made for rent of land, as at the 
present time there is no trouble in securing a good range 
on the frontier for a nominal sum. In summing up at 
the end of five years, the cost of the fence, ranche, and 
corral, are valued as they were at the outset. 



CATTLE AKD SHEEP. 193 

From this table, then, it will be readily seen that start- 
ing with a capital of ten thousand dollars, a man can 
easily pay his running expenses for the first five years, 
leaving a fair balance in the bank. At the end of that 
time the herd will have nearly trebled in value, and from 
that time on, the profits from the sale of three-year-old 
steers will rapidly increase. 

That there is ^^ money in sheep," goes without question 
in Colorado. When one-year-old lambs average four 
pounds, ewes five to six, and rams from twelve to fifteen 
pounds of wool, worth from fifteen to twenty cents, it 
will be readily seen that there is a large margin for 
profit, provided proper care is taken. Twelve years ago, 
but few sheep were in the State. Since that time the 
growth of this industry has been rapid. Then perhaps 
fifteen thousand were owned. Now the number nears 
two millions. Thorough-bred Merinos are annually 
brought in, finding ready sale. The yearly wool clip 
exceeds seven million pounds, having a value of nearly 
one million and a half dollars. 

The following estimate of outlay and income in sheep 
farming for a period of three years will convey some idea 
of the ease with which capital doubles itself. 

OUTLAY. 

1000 ewes @ $3 $3,000 

25 rams @ $30 750 

Wagons, teams, ranche, herders, provisions 1,500 

Cost of shearing, extras, etc 250 

Expenses of second year 1,500 

Expenses of third year 2,000 

$9,000 

INCOME. 

First lear. Wool 5,000 pounds @ 20 cents $1,000 

Increase in flock 750 @ $1.50 1,125 

Second Year. Wool 7,500 pounds @ 20 cents 1.500 

Increase in flock 1,000 @ $1.50 1,500 

Third Year. Wool 12,000 pounds @ 20 cents 2,400 

Increase in flock 2,000 3,Q00 

$10,525 

Original investment 4,000 

Q $14,525 



194 COLORADO AS a:?^ agricultural state. 

This is not a bad exhibit. The next two years the 
profits increase very .^ast. There are some who claim 
that two hundred per ceat. profit can be made. This 
may be true, in isolated cases, but not as a rule. Lately, 
in an Eastern magazine, an article on Sheep Husban- 
dry appeared, based, as asserted, upon actual facts, 
gathered by the writer from those directly engaged in 
the business, in which, on a basis of two thousand ew^es 
and sixty rams, with the outfit and proyisions making 
the investment fourteen thousand dollars, the money 
was doubled in three years. But it is better not to be 
too sanguine of making such profits. If the origi- 
nal investment is doubled at the end of the fifth year, it 
is a safe and profitable industry. There are bad seasons, 
late springs, sudden snow storms that take the flock un- 
awares, and serious loss ensues. 

A writer on sheep husbandry in Colorado gives the 
following sound advice to those who propose adopting 
this jmrsuit: "Those who enter this business are ad- 
vised to act cautiously, at first. It is better to learn the 
ways of the country and the methods pursued of caring 
for sheep, requisite for success, from some who are in the 
business. A year's apprenticeship is a wise move on the 
part of the man who intends keeping sheep. The knowl- 
edge thus gained will be of incalculable value. A careful 
selection of land for a range is necessary; some have two 
ranges — one for summer on the plains, and one for win- 
ter within the shelter of the foot-hills. A close atten- 
tion to the business in all its minor details, will enable 
even those who are novices to build up a respectable for- 
tune in a very few years by sheep raising. " 

In a recent number of the "American Agricul- 
turist," there was published so excellent a descrip- 
tive account of a Colorado Sheep Ranche in Eastern 
Colorado, from the pen of David W. Judd, Esq., 
that I give it in this connection as being better 



CATTLE A:SB SHEEP. 195 

than anything I can write to conyey a correct impres- 
sion of the subect: 

Leaving Kiowa, a Kansas and Pacific railway station, 
thirty-one miles east of Denver, we drove eight miles over 
the plains in a buck-board wagon, reaching 0. and AY. and 
G. Eaymond's well-known ranche at the close of a lovely 
October day. We were warmly welcomed by one of the 
three proprietors and his young wife, who, having finished 
her school days in New York, had come two thousand miles 
to grace a ranchman's home. There is a novelty and 
charm about this life which attract very many from the 
older States, and one is constantly discovering in the rough 
herder's garb men of education and culture. They are fond 
of the freedom and exhilaration of this mode of existence, 
which also promises health, wealth, and adventure. Very 
many of the herders or hired men are fresh from college; 
youths who are serving their apprenticeship in the occu- 
pation of sheep-raising. Others come here from the 
Eastern and Middle States to engage in mining opera- 
tions. They are unsuccessful, become straightened for 
money, and take to herding because herders are in de- 
mand. Their wages vary from fifteen to thirty dollars a 
month, and board, according to capacity and experience. 
Many not only remain with their sheep during the day, 
but sleep near them in the corrals at night, as a protec- 
tion against wolves. On three successive nights since we 
have been here, these wolves have made a descent upon 
the corral, killing several lambs. In the early days of 
Colorado sheep-raising, the herders were accustomed to 
camp with their flocks wherever night overtook them. 
This, however, was found to be a dangerous practice, in- 
asmuch as the sudden storms of the Colorado plains 
would blind and scatter the sheep, and often lead to 
great loss. Sheep invariably go before a storm. Some- 
times they can not be checked, but will push on to cer- 
tain destruction. We recall one instance where three 




) ; F all; r: -H 




CATTLE AXD SHEEP. 197 

thousand sheep in Southern Colorado, overtaken at night 
by a sudden storm, blindly followed their leader over a 
precipice, and perished in the waters below, not one 
escaping. Now the ranchmen have their sheeiD corralled 
at sunset, instead of keeping them out on the plains. In 
the engraving the sheep are represented as coming in for 
the night. Though generally manifesting but little in- 
telligence, they invariably display much sagacity in wend- 
ing their way toward the corral, which they know will 
afford them protection against wolves, and keep them 
warm and comfortable. The sheep soon come to know 
the herders, and manifest as much affection for them as 
sheep are capable of. It is not well, however, to have 
them become too tame, because they hang back and do 
not drive well. The thrifty owner has his sheep out of 
the corral and upon the plains by daylight. They feed 
until about ten o'clock, then "bunch up," or forma 
compact mass, until four o'clock, and from then they 
feed until driven in at dark. They eat gramma, buffalo, 
wire, and bunch grass. Wild hay is cut and stacked for 
feeding in winter, so that they may not want for food 
should there be a heavy fall of snow. The herders gen- 
erally have horses of their own, which subsist on prairie 
grass, are very much attached to their owners, and be- 
come wonderfully skilled in managing sheep. Give them 
the rein and they will gather in and keep the flock to- 
gether with as much dexterity as the shepherd's dog who 
accompanies them. The dog is an essential part of the 
"outfit," being a companion to his owner, and exercising 
a constant vigilance for the safety of the flock. Herder, 
horse, dog, and sheep, together make a very picturesque 
appearance as they move over the plains. 

The flocks, comprising Mexican sheep and their in- 
crease from Merino rams, generally number from one 
thousand to three thousand. During the winter the lar- 
ger flocks are generally divided in order to insure better 



198 COLOEADO AS AK AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

feeding and better protection. One herder can readily 
manage two thousand five hundred sheep, but he has to 
have his wits about him constantly. The leader of the 
flock is generally a Mexican goat, whose prowess is rec- 
ognized by the whole herd, and whose prominent figure 
enables him to be easily seen both by the sheep and the 
herder. 

The Mexican sheep, as a general thing, are purchased 
about the first of October. The rams are turned in with 
them in December, and the lambing season begins 
about the middle of May. Shearing begins about the 
first of June. The Mexican sheep shear from two 
to four pounds, and improved sheep from four to eight 
pounds. Of course there are exceptions; for example: — 
The Willard Bros., at their shearing-match, last year, 
clipped thirty-two and one-half pounds of wool from one 
Vermont ram, which brought twenty cents a pound. In 
shearing sheep, great care must be exercised not to begin 
too early, on account of late storms. The shearers are 
paid from five to eight cents a sheep for their work. One 
man can shear from twenty to seventy sheep in a day. 
Mexican wool brought, last year, from sixteen to twenty 
cents a pound (prices are much less this year), according 
to the absence or presence of ^'^kemp," a hairy, valueless 
substance. As sheep improve, the quantity of kemp 
gradually diminishes. The fleece of the native Mexican 
sheep is a coarse carpet wool, but as the flocks are im- 
proved by the introduction of Merino rams, the quality 
of the wool is improved, until many of the ranchmen 
now claim that it is fully as good as that grown m the 
Eastern States. They further maintain that when their 
improved sheep become disassociated in the public mind 
from the native Mexicans, their wool will justly com- 
mand as good a price as is paid for Eastern fleece. Ow- 
ing to the scarcity of water, sheep are rarely washed in 
Colorado, and it is stated that many tons of dirt are an- 



CATTLE AND SHEEP. 199 

nually shipped east in the Colorado fleece. Until re- 
cently, the ranchmen disposed of their wool to local deal- 
ers and agents. Two years ago they began to consign it 
to New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Hartford, and other 
Eastern houses. The main disease among the sheep is 
scab, which is due, like the itch in man, to a minute 
mite, and may be communicated from one animal to an- 
other. The treatment is, to dip the sheep in some liquid 
that will destroy the parasite; the dipping apparatus 
costing from fifty dollars to one hundred dollars. The 
principal dip is composed of tobacco, sulphur, and some- 
times arsenic and soap. Three men can dip twenty-five 
hundred sheep a day. Scab does not affect the wool 
itself, but causes the sheep to lose wool, often to a consid- 
erable extent. 

While sheep-raising presents so many attractions, it is 
no child's play, as many coming here from the East learn 
to their sorrow. Drones cannot succeed in this better 
than in any other business. Money, muscle, and brains 
are required to achieve success, and the idea that owners 
can live m the East, and safely trust their flocks to the 
management of others here, has been rudely dispelled. 
One has got to be upon the ground, and superintend 
his own ranching operations, if he expects to prosper. 
Upon coming to Colorado, to engage in sheep-raising, a 
man should hire himself out as a herder, in order to learn 
the details. No man should embark in the business, 
until he has had some experience. He should be here 
during the three seasons, that is: lambing, shearing, and 
dipping. At the end of that time he will have a very fair 
insight into the workings, although it would be advisa- 
ble for him to pass a winter here, and have an experience 
with one of the heavy storms. He must not take the ad- 
vice of any one man, but form his judgment after con- 
versing with various sheep-raisers. He must expect to 
invest not merely money, but his time and brains. He 



200 COLORADO AS AJiT AGRICULTURAJ. STATE. 

must expect to give his personal attention to the business, 
not simply for one or two years, but for five or ten years, 
until lie gets his herd sufficiently well graded, to bring 
in a fair income from wool. He will find the stories of 
ranchmen to diSer in many particulars. Two years ago 
five thousand dollars was regarded as the usual amount 
required in purchasing a complete sheep " outfit," — that 
is — a ranche, horses, dog, sheep, and rams. He should 
start with about one thousand Mexican sheep, which he 
can purchase of dealers at Denver, and almost anywhere 
else. They sold two years ago for two dollars to two 
and one-half dollars each. They can be purchased this 
autumn, for from ninety cents to one dollar and fifty 
cents each. The Vermont rams will cost him from 
twenty to fifty dollars apiece. There should be one ram 
for every fifty ewes. 

He will not be required to pay anything for his land, 
which belongs to the Government. Generally the build- 
ings and ranche franchise can be purchased of some one, 
who, for various reasons, wishes to make a change. If 
the new comer locates on a new range, he will have to 
build a dug-out or an adobe house, and must have a 
wagon, a span of horses, and a shepherd dog. The cor- 
ral, with accompanying shed, should be built as soon as 
possible. If he has his family with him, he should pur- 
chase the needed household furniture here. The rates 
of freight are so high, that as few effects as possible 
should be brought from the East. He should employ a 
herder to watch the flocks, while he himself keeps close 
guard over the rams. He must make up his mind to be 
absent from the ranche only a few hours at a time during 
any season. 

In selecting a range, wood and water are the great es- 
sentials. It is for this reason that the ranches through 
Colorado and the other Western States and Territories 
are generally located along the streams and river bottoms. 



CATTLE AN-D SHEEP. 201 

Water-spouts are of rare occurrence, but they are one 
of the things which 9, new-comer should have in view 
when locating his ranche. The little grove of trees, seen 
in the engraving, are cotton-wood. This is the only 
thrifty tree that grows spontaneously on the plains. In 
addition to the wood which they supply, these cotton- 
wood groves afford a protection from the snow, and break 
the force of storms. The buildings here are made of 
adobe, viz., sun-baked mud. They are substantial, com- 
fortable, and supply the place of frame houses, which 
are expensive, owing to the high price of timber. The 
dug-out in the background, was the original home of the 
''founder" of the ranche. It is not an uncommon thing 
to find a family recently from the East, temporarily oc- 
cupying a dug-out, and having with them a piano and 
other evidences of culture and refinement. 



C.IAPTER XXL 



THE RAILWAY SYSTEM OF THE STATE. 

Not the least important factor in the development of 
the agricultural resources of Colorado, has been the net- 
work of railway lines crossing the country and giving 
easy communication to the principal markets, as well as 
to points touched by main trunk lines running east and 
west. When I first settled in Colorado, in 1870, its cap- 
ital was isolated from the civilized world. The Union 
Pacific system left it one hundred miles to the south. 
The Kansas Pacific had but just reached the eastern hue, 
though pointed toward Denver. A road was in course 
of construction from Cheyenne on the Union Pacific 
railway down to Denver, but only fifty miles were in op- 
eration. South of Denver, the Denver and Rio G-rande 
railway was just beginning to feel its way across the Di- 
vide, separating the South Platte and Arkansas Valleys. 

Now — how different the s'tuation. 

Beginning in Northern Colorado, we find the Colorado 
branches of the Union Pacific railway system reaching 
all the farming valleys, penetrating into the foot-hills, 
up to the mining districts, and now making its way over 
the great Continental Divide, to the western border. 
There is no valley of any size, or country town of any 
importance, that it does not reach. Fort Collins, Love- 
land, Longmont, Boulder, Erie, Evans, Greeley, Eaton, 
the main farming centers of Weld, Larimer, and Boulder 
Counties, are on the connecting lines that give an outlet 
to markets south, north, east, and west. 

The Julesburg branch, as it is called, enters Colorado 
at the extreme north-east corner of Weld Countv, and 
(202) 



THE RAILWAY SYSTEM OF THE STATE. 203 

follows the course of the South Platte, all the way to 
Denver. Hitherto this large valley, with an abundance 
of meadow lands and arable areas, was so distant from 
market facilities as to be practically useless and without 
value; but within the last two years there has been a 
wonderful change, and all along its course new towns and 
farming settlements are being established on Government, 
Railroad, and State lands. The Colorado Central branch 
skirts the foot-hills from Golden, in Jefferson County, 
north; traversing the farming districts in Boulder, and 
Larimer Counties, crossing the valleys of the Boulder, 
St. Vrain, Big Thompson, and Cache-la- Poudre, on its 
way to Cheyenne, The Denver Pacific branch, starting 
from Denver, goes further out upon the plains; follows 
the course of the South Platte River to Evans, where it 
leaves it, crossing the Cache-la-Poudre at Greeley, passes 
the iiew town of Eaton, and thence runs north to Chey- 
enne. By either of these branches, Cheyenne and the 
eastern and western markets on the main line of the road 
are reached. By the Kansas Pacific branch, the market 
of Kansas City is within reach. This road is at present 
used more for cattle than the cereals, but the day may 
come, when it will be found serviceable for the transpor- 
tation of surplus grain. 

The domain of the Denver and Rio Grande railway is 
in Southern and South-western Colorado. The Baby 
Road, as it was termed in 1871, has become a Giant in 
1882. It is not yet full grown. It is a study, even to 
glance at its completed lines iind spurs, while those in 
course of construction and in contemplation, are so nu- 
merous as to cause wonder. From Denver to Durango, in 
the farthest corner of the State, m the south-west, it pen- 
etrates, reaching the fair valleys of La Plata County, 
through rocky canons and over mountain passes, that 
once it seemed impossible to cross, even by trail. The 
fair valley of the Fontaine- qui-bouille, on the banks of 



204 COLOEADO AS AN" AGRICULTURAL STATE.. 

which the beautiful City of Colorado Springs is located, 
is traversed by the main line. From Pueblo, west, the 
course of the Arkansas River is followed, through fertile 
lands and grass-grown vales, until Buena Vista is reached. 
Wet Mountain Valley is reached by a branch road from 
Canon City. The main line, crossing the Sangre de 
Christo range at La Veta Pass, dips down into the 
splendid San Luis Park, and at Alamosa touches the 
Rio Grande del Norte; at this point a branch goes up the 
valley to the very edge of the Continental Divide, pass- 
ing Lariat, and Del Norte. The main line, turning 
south at Alamosa, goes down to the border line of New 
Mexico, thence westward, crossing the pleasant valleys 
of the San Juan, Piedra, Florida, Las Animas, going up 
this last-named stream until it reaches Silverton, in the 
great silvery San Juan country. The Utah Division, 
from Salida, crosses Marshall Pass, and then descends 
into the yalleys of the Uncompahgre, Gunnison, and 
Grand Rivers, passing through what has been not in- 
aptly termed the New Colorado, where at least half a 
million acres of arable land, more than bountifully sup- 
plied with water for irrigating purposes, await the com- 
ing of those who shall make an apparent wilderness bloom 
and blossom as the rose, and where in the near future, 
thousands of happy homes are to be founded, and the 
material wealth of the State greatly advanced by the 
yearly products of a soil capable of raising everything in 
the line of vegetables, fruits, and cereals. From this 
point the road goes on to Utah, reaching Salt Lake City. 
It will be seen by the foregoing, how extensive is the 
operating system of this railway, and it can well be un- 
derstood what effect it has upon valley lands far in the 
interior, that were almost valueless on account of isola- 
tion from markets before its coming. As lias been re- 
marked by a writer on Farmers and Railroads, '^without 
railroads we find cheap land, cheap produce, and cheap 



THE RAILWiLY SYSTEM OF THE STATE. 205 

labor; with them we find a remarkable and almost imme- 
diate improvement in all directions." Nowhere is this 
more noticeable than in Colorado. 

The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad traverses 
the south-eastern portion of the State, principally in 
Bent, Pueblo, and Las Animas Counties. From the State 
line it follows the fertile valley of the Arkansas to La 
Junta, where the main line branches to the south on its 
way to Santa Fe, New Mexico, passing up Purgatoire 
Valley, to the coal section about Trinidad. A branch 
continues west from La Junta, still following the course 
of the Arkansas, until Pueblo, the metropolis of South- 
ern Colorado, is reached. From this point a third rail on 
the Denver and Eio Grande railway enables it to reach 
Denver, without transfer of passengers or freight. By 
this line the farmers of south-eastern Colorado reach the 
markets of New Mexico. 

The extension of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy 
road from its terminus at the Missouri River, by the con- 
struction of the Burlington and Missouri River railway 
in Nebraska, from the river direct to Denver, opens 
communication with more distant markets. The road 
enters Colorado in Arapahoe County, follows up the 
course of the Republican River, enters Weld County, 
touching the South Platte River and following its course 
up to Denver. This opens up to market a vast region, 
hitherto used only as grazing ground for cattle. At 
present but few settlements are on its line; at Akron, 
one of its stations, the National Government is experi- 
menting in sinking an artesian well. If successful, it 
will change the condition of the north-eastern part of 
Colorado very materially. On the Republican, as well as 
on the South Platte, on the line of this road, the State 
owns large tracts of land that can be leased or purchased 
(conditional upon constructing irrigating canals) by in- 
dividuals or corporations. For Colorado people this road 



206 COLORADO AS AN" AGEICULTURAL STATE. 

has one point of vantage. When the time comes, if ever 
it should, for farmers to seek distant markets for tlieir 
surplus produce, it presents the Chicago market, one 
thousand and fifty-three miles away, to be reached with- 
out breaking bulk. At present this advantage accrues 
to passenger travel. 

The Denver and New Orleans railroad, lately begun, 
with its line at present only operated to Pueblo, has be- 
fore it an important future, reaching to the far South 
with New Orleans as its objective point. It is intended 
to build this road to the Canadian River, where it will con- 
nect with one already nearly finished, having its starting 
point at New Orleans. On its way to the Canadian 
River, this line of railway will touch the valley of the 
Purgatoire, and the town of Trinidad, and possibly ex-' 
tend a branch up the valley west, through Stonewall 
Valley and the passes beyond, reaching the mining dis- 
tricts located west of the Spanish Peaks. At present it 
gives an outlet to the produce raised in the eastern sec- 
tion of the Divide, in Elbert, and Douglas Counties; 
points that have hitherto been lacking in facilities for 
the convenient transportation of crops. 

It will be seen from the foregoing that the railway sys- 
tem of Colorado has its importance to farmers, as well as 
to merchants and miners. There are some who cry down 
railroads and consider them a disadvantage to the country. 
But the more intelligent portion of the people every- 
where are beginning to realize that they confer vast ben- 
efits upon the country at large. But for the great Trans- 
Continental railway, Colorado might still have been a 
terra incognita to the East. But for the Union Pacific 
railway of branch lines in Northern, and the Denver and 
Rio Grande railway in its Southern borders, Colorado 
might have been known to day only as a Territory, in- 
stead of one of the most promising and prosperous States 
of the American Union. 



CHAPTER XXII. 



GARDEN CULTURE BY IRRIGATION. 

As may well be supposed, where all the cereals and 
small fruits grow to perfection, the culture of vegetables 
becomes an industry, giving employment to a large num- 
ber of gardeners. Especially is this true in the neigh- 
borhood of large towns and cities. Everything in the 
line of vegetables grows to perfection; the quality is good, 
the yield prolific, and the net returns to the grower very 
satisfactory. Some of the worms and insects that have 
become a pest in the Eastern States, have found their 
way to Colorado, and made themselves troublesome to 
the gardener. But, as yet, no serious complaint has been 
made, and the per cent, of loss is small, hardly to be 
noticed in the abundant yield. 

Last year a canning establishment, located in Denver, 
began canning tomatoes, and it is altogether probable 
that this is the beginning of an industry that will, ere 
long, furnish employment for a large number of gardeners. 

As an account of the method of irrigating gardens may 
be of interest, I append a paper upon the subject, which 
appeared in the ''American Garden," of New York, in 
Nov., 1882. The paper being based on my own personal 
experience, it will, I trust, give a clear idea of what many 
erroneously suppose to be a difficult and laborious task: 

Garden work and fruit culture in Colorado must be 

planned to meet the requirements and conditions 4>f its 

peculiar climate, and as these include irrigation, it is 

desirable that the land selected for a garden, or for a 

207 



208 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

fruit plantation, should be as level as possible, as more 
or less additional expense and labor are involved on ir- 
regular, or sloping ground. 

Siiadyside, the residence of the author, located about 
two miles from the city of Denver, is a block of four 
acres, having the good fortune to lie close to the main 
irrigating canal that waters a strip of country about ten 
miles long, and from one to three miles wide. Trees — 
Cottonwood or lindens — border the south, west, and north, 
making a complete shelter-belt, leaving the eastern side 
with a full exposure to the sun. The house is set in a 
grove of trees of ten years' growth. Over the eastern 
half of the land there is a gentle slope to the west, while 
the western half is fairly level. 

The main canal, passing within two rods of the south- 
east corner of the land, is tapped by a flume of wood, 
laid level with tlie bottom of the canal, and passing 
through the berme on the lower side of the canal; at 
the end entering the canal there is a wooden head-gate, 
made to lift, to allow the number of inches required, to 
pass under it and through the flume; this head-gate can 
be dropped down when water is not being used, shutting 
it entirely off. Five inches of water is used during the 
season at Shadyside; by this I mean the amount that 
would pass through an orifice one inch deep and five 
inches wide, or two inches deep and two and a half 
inches w4de, as the case may be. One inch is usually 
considered sufficient to water one acre. 

The heavy black lines represent the shallow laterals 
running alongside the various beds in which the water 
taken from the main canal flows, and which is tapped at 
various points to meet the requirements of the occasion. 
For instance : Water is let into the garden at the south- 
east corner, allowed to flow down the fence line until it 
reaches plot 7, which is a bed of rhubarb, or pie-plant; 
here, at a central point, a temporary check to the water 



garde:n" cultuee by ikrigation. 



209 




^hadj^SidSrArgylePark, near Denren Colo, Residence of ^YJH^cvbon 




ExPLAKATTON-s.— 1. House ; 2. Flower garden; 3. Chicken run; 4. Barn; 5. 
ChickeD house; fi. Cow corral : 7. Rhubarb bed; 8. Grape-vines; 9. Asparagus bed • 
10. Experimental garden ; 11. Hay-stack; 12. Water-melon paten— Bean-row border : 
13. Musk-melon patch -Bean-row border; 14. Kitchen garden— vaiiety of veeeta- 
Dles ; 15. Tomato natch ; Ifi. Cucumber patch ; 17. Pows of pole Beans ; 18. Turban 
Squash bed; 19. Strawberries; 20. Currants; 21. Strawberries; 22. Esspberries; 
28. Blackberries ; 24. Cauliflower and winter Cabbage ; 25. Onion patch ; 26. Currant 
and Gooseberry plantation ; 27. Alfalfa strip. 



210 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL STATE. 

is made by damming the channel; two or three shovel- 
fuls of dirt are generally sufficient for this purpose. By 
making an opening in the west bank of the lateral, at the 
point indicated by < , the water, thus diverted, flows 
into the rows of rhubarb, until enough is let in to fully 
saturate the ground, say for half an hour, in which time 
it will sink several inches in the sandy loam of which the 
soil is composed. Then the temporary dam is removed, 
the cut in the bank filled up, and the water allowed to 
flow along until it reaches the patch of grape-vines, where 
the same process is repeated; then to the bed of asparagus; 
this, being larger, will require two or three openings, so 
the dam is built at the farther corner of the bed, and these 
openings made for the water to flow through into the rows. 
Plots 7, 8, and 9 have young fruit trees growing in them — 
apple, pear, cherry, etc. The water from this bed that 
does not soak into the ground is allowed to flow through 
a couple of small, wooden flumes set in the walk, into 
the plot numbered 10, which is a sort of experimental 
garden, where new and choice varieties of seeds are tested. 
The ground here being perfectly level, the water will run 
down a row and then run back in another row, until 
several are filled. A furrow is run in each row; I gen- 
erally use the Firefly plow and find it answers the purpose 
very well. 

When these beds are fully watered, the dam is removed 
and tlie water allowed to turn to the west, along the plot 
numbered 14. This is the kitchen garden, where all 
kinds of vegetables are grown for home use, mainly in 
rows. The plots 12 and 13 are melon patches, in hills, 
with a border of wax beans banked up on the outer side, 
so that the water can completely cover the space allotted 
for melons. The plots 15 and 16 are tomato and cucum- 
ber beds, also in hills. The rest of the plot is cultivated 
and planted in rows. This last summer I had corn, 
parsnips, carrots, beets, lettuce, radishes, peas, beans, 



GARDEJq' CULTCRE BY IREIGATIOX. 211 

nasturtiums, melons— musk and water, — turnips, red 
cabbage. Savoy, kohl rabi, summer cabbage, onions, 
chufas, peanuts, tomatoes, and cucumbers, growing in 
this plot of ground, in abundant supply. 

In irrigating this ground, a check, by damming, is 
made about every rod, and eight or ten rows of water can 
be seen running down the rows at the same time. The 
furrow is run as close as possible on one side of the row 
of vegetables, in order to allow the water to seep down 
close to the roots of the growing plants. It takes but a 
short time to fill these channels, and the shinmg currents 
of water, glistening under a summer sun, are a beautiful 
sight to see, aside from the usefulness of the mission 
upon which they journey. 

When the water has passed the rows and reached the 
tomato and cucumber patches, it flows into zig-zag fur- 
rows run by the ^'Firefly," so as to circle around each 
hill. The water easily flows in them all, seeping and 
spreading on each side, and penetrating the ground sev- 
eral inches, until the beds are thoroughly saturated. 

When this pleasant work is completed, the lateral run- 
ning west is cut off and the water allowed to flow north 
again, until it reaches the plot marked 17, where three 
rows of bean-poles, about thirty in a row, show the Cran- 
berry and Lima growing luxuriantly. Down these rows 
it runs, flowing over into plot 18, where a patch of Tur- 
ban squashes are growing. From this it falls into the 
lateral running along the east line of plots marked ID, 
20, and 21. The first-named is a bed of Crescent Seed- 
ling and Jucunda strawberries; number 20 has eight 
rows of Red Dutch currants, twenty-five m a row; num- 
ber 21 is a bed of Wilson strawberries. All these are 
grown in rows, and their irrigation is an easy task. 

Now, as will be seen, the entire east half of the garden 
has been well watered, about half a day being consumed 
in the work. 



212 COLORADO AS AN AGKICULTUKAL STATE. 

We now come to the west half. The water is turned 
from flowing into the channel on the east side of the 
garden, and allowed to run down a lateral outside of the 
south fence fronting the house, until it reaches the far- 
ther side of the drive-way and the corner of the flower 
garden, where it flows into and out of one bed into an- 
other, as shown in the map. These five beds have raised 
walks about and between them, so that they are lower 
than the surrounding surface and a system of flooding is 
followed. A better plan, however, and one that will 
probably be followed hereafter, is to attach a garden- 
hose to the force-pump at the kitchen door, with a 
sprinkler attached. But the flooding method was pur- 
sued this last summer with good success. 

Lying west of the flower garden is a newly made cur- 
rant and gooseberry plantation: one thousand bushes of 
the first, one hundred of the last. These are in rows of 
twenty-five each, four feet apart. To irrigate these, the 
volume of water is allowed to flow past the south end of 
the flower garden, turning north at the corner of the 
currant rows, and running along their eastern edge. 
Here the water, dammed at convenient distances, fills up 
furrows thrown up with a ten-inch plow, and flows off 
into plot 27 — an afalfa bed. 

When these are well watered, the dam is removed and 
the current carried further north, where over a hun- 
dred rows of seed onions are growing. Here the 
ground is kept fairly level, though there is a slight 
slope to the west. Rows are made eighteen inches apart, 
and at every tenth or twelfth row, sectional dams are 
made with earth, into which the water runs until it 
flows into and fills all the channels made in the rows; 
then the first dam is removed and the process repeated, 
section by section, until the bed is all irrigated, the sur- 
plus water going into the afalfa patch. 

Plot 24 contains rows of winter cauliflowers and cab- 



GARDEN CULTURE BY IRRIGATION". 213 

bage, and takes the water next, the same method being 
pursued. It then passes on until it reaches plot 23 and 
22, where raspberry and blackberry bushes are set in 
rows. As these are as yet young plants, the large space 
of ground tliey occupy has been utilized by planting 
cucumber pickles and squashes between them, in a line 
with the bushes, so that the water, as it flows past, is 
made to do double duty. 

As has been noted, all the waste or overplus of water, 
from 22, 23, 24, 25, and 26, flows into the strip of alfalfa 
on the western side of the garden, which, from this 
cause, generally gets moisture enough without any further 
labor on the part of the gardener. 

The time and labor involved in thus irrigating a plot 
of four acres is neither long nor tiresome. It is more in 
the nature of a pleasure. In one day a thorough satura- 
tion of the ground, sufficient for a week, can be given. 
The only implement required is a long-handled shovel, to 
break and fill up banks, check laterals, and guide the 
rapidly running water into the furrows provided for it. 
Through the season some rainfalls may be counted on, 
so that two or three weeks may pass without requiring 
irrigation. 




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